Sakura in Paris 2
by Ms. Raye Sinic
Summary: A sequel to SIP1, cause y'all loved it! This one centers around Madison and a strange orphan boy named Shawn . . . Demons and strange magic aplenty in this fic!
1. Chapter One: The Return to Paris

  
Sakura in Paris 2  
Part One: The Return to Paris  
  
Okay, listen up y'all. I'm only saying this once.  
This is a sequel to my first fic, Sakura in Paris.  
As such, no stealing or copying.  
Or I'll fill you with lead and leave you to be eaten by egyptian scarabs.  
You may know me from some of my infamous Gundam Wing fics, which you can read in the Gundam section of the website if you wish. Just put a search in under 'Ms. Raye Sinic' for author. {I know, it's some shameless promoting for my other fics, but I want everyone to read and review them! PLEASE!!}  
And right now I'd like to take the time to tell everyone who reads this, thank you so very much for all of the reviews! You're all so nice and flattering and extremely funny! A special THANX goes out to the people like KC's crush (yer funny!), D-chan's little sister (Good luck with your fic writing!), Jo, Anime~Angel (yer funny, too!), Prophetess Of Hearts (funny person #3), Sally Fox (yer nice), and countless others. Since you all seemed to like the first so much, I wrote a sequel! Keep those reviews coming and I'll thank others personally!  
I'm sorry about the mixed up chapters of SIP1, but Ms. Sinic's working on fixing them, so check in on the story in a few days if you ever want to read the whole story without any mistakes.  
This fic'll start and end each part with "chatting" by me with my friends and others.  
Why?  
Because the Voices in My Head say so!  
My friends are:  
Max Nefertiri/Cale- Fluffy, she who wishes to marry Logan. A chronic skitzophrenic and complete twin to Psycho.  
Ms. Heaven Sinic- President and founder of the Biggest Cynic's Fan Club. An animephrenic, or someone who can not survive without anime. My most esteemed partner in crime.  
Psycho Wright- Chris, owe depressed one. Second cousin twice-removed to the Blair Witch, older sister of Chucky, the killer doll.  
Ameoba Boy- Drew (ha HA ha), annoyingest guy in the world. And yet I feel a deep pity for him. Why? Because his brother is Nathan (a.k.a. the Thing.). If ever you feel like throwing up, just ask him about his infamous Mr. Wetzel jokes.  
And of course, we can't forget me, can we?  
Raye Firearrows- Ange, Bar, Ms. Bookworm, she who thinks she's a writer. I have a chronic disease called Dorkus Malorkus, which is incureable and progressing. Egads! In less than a year, I'll be a certifiable dork!  
Various other people (i.e.- the Blair Witch, Chucky, my archenemies) might also appear.  
Notes: Thinking  
" " Talking and Quotes  
{ } Author's notes  
Italics for long sections- Flashbacks  
Enjoy!  
  
  
{Disclaimer}  
I don't own Cardcaptors. Nor did I create it.  
If I had, I would have had more love scenes.  
But then, I am a hopeless romantic.  
Max, don't make any snide remarks about that last sentence.  
Or you'll be black and blue 'til summer! *(^-^)*  
  
  
"I can't believe that it's been a year since Paris!" Sakura exclaimed quite loudly over the phone.  
Madison winced and held the phone away from her ear. "And I'm so glad I can come this year!"  
"Yeah! It'll be so perfect! You, me, Li, Ranea, Jacque and Grannie Marie for an entire summer! It'll be even better than last year!"  
"I hope so! I mean, I missed so many earth-shattering things last year! You and Li getting together, you getting kidnapped, and then the two of you teaching that jerk Tom a lesson...." {Author's Note: Want to know who Tom is? Well, I'm not gonna tell you! Get off your lazy butt and read my first fic, Sakura in Paris!}  
"Well, I better get off. Kero hasn't eaten dinner yet and he's acting like he's about to pass out."  
"Okay. See you and Li at the airport tomorrow!"  
"Bye, Madison!"  
"Bye!"  
  
"This'll be just great!" Sakura exclaimed as she and Li waded through the sea of people towards the faraway dot that was Madison.  
Tori glared at Li's back as he followed the couple with their luggage.  
Who does that Brat think he is? Trying to hurt Squirt and make it seem otherwise. I just know that he can't be up to any good.  
"Hey guys!" Madison called, waving happily. She and her mother were sitting on an empty bench by gate 24.  
"Hey, Madison! Can you believe it?! In less than four hours, we'll be with Jacque, and Ranea, and Grannie Marie!" Sakura exclaimed happily.  
  
"Chere`! It is so good to see you again!" Ranea exclaimed as Sakrua, Li, and Madison pushed through the crowds towards them.  
"Grannie Marie! Ranea!"  
"Jacque!"  
"'Tis good to see you again, Li."  
"And who is this pretty girl?" Grannie Marie asked.  
"This is Madison, Grannie Marie. My best friend from Japan." Sakura said as Madison bowed nervously.  
"Such a sweet dear!" Grannie exclaimed, sweeping Madison into an extremely tight hug.  
"Mrs.......Marie...."  
"Yes, dear?"  
"I.....can't....breathe...."  
Grannie Marie released her and smiled apologetically. "Sorry, dear. I didn't mean to 'ug so tightly."  
Madison caught her breath and looked around.  
"Wow! So this is Paris?"  
  
  
This chapter was pathetically short, I know. Sorry. How is it? Not very good, really. Hopefully, it'll get better in time.  
Ms. Sinic: So what are we doing this weekend? Rebuilding your house, again?!?!? Watching the Mummy 52 times?!?! {Author's Note: In SIP1, the Gang rebuilt my entire house in two days. Also, the Mummy is our fav movie, so I drop hints about it plenty. If you don't like the Mummy, or Brendon Fraser, pray that I never find out, for if I do, I shall hunt you down and stab you not once, not twice, not even thrice, but 79 times with a rusty butcher knife! *(^-^)*}  
Raye: Not even close! We're gonna go camping this weekend!  
Max: Great ....  
Psycho: Where?  
Raye: The Blair Woods in Maine!  
Psycho: YEAH!!!!!  
(Everyone else's sweatsdrop.)  
Everyone but Psycho: Goody....  
Psycho: YIPPEEEE!  
(Begins dancing around the room happily as everyone's sweatdrops again....)  



	2. Chapter Two: The First Night

  
Sakura in Paris 2  
Part Two: The First Night  
  
{Author's Note: I am crazy. I admit that. And to quote myself, "My friends are wak." And since we're so loopy, be on the look-out for references to paranormal activities, strange movies, and lunatics. Thank you.}  
Raye: This looks like a good campsite....  
(Effigies of the Blair Witch are hanging everywhere, and there appears to be fresh graves in the clearing.....)  
Ameoba Boy: You're wak.  
Raye & Max & Ms. Sinic: Thanx!  
Psycho: Cousin Blair! Cousin Blair! Are you home?  
(Eerie silence.)  
Psycho: Huh. I guess she's not....  
(Low growls in the bushes, screams in the distance, twigs cracking everywhere, and night is falling....)  
Ameoba Boy: This is gonna be a long weekend.....  
  
  
{Disclaimer}  
Funny, huh? How my fic part is called the First Night and me and the Gang are trying to survive our First Night.  
Isn't it Ironic?  
(Gang starts singing "Ironic" by Alanis Morisette.)  
Clamp owns Cardcaptors.  
I just use the characters in my fics.  
(Gang continues singing around the campfire....)  
  
  
"This is nice." Madison sighed happily. She, Li, Sakura, and Kero were sitting in the Garden.  
"Cooky hasn't changed a bit!" Kero said, patting his extremely swollen stomach.  
Sakura leaned closer to Li. "Nothing's changed. Isn't that great?"  
Li nodded in agreement. "But at least that jerk Tom isn't around anymore."  
"Grannie Marie says he has sessions with psychiatrists now!" Sakura said through uncontrolled giggles.  
"Serves him right for everything he did!" Madson retorted angrily. "Anyone that wants to hurt Sakura deserves whatever he gets!"  
"Chere`! Madame` Marie says it's time to come in! Bedtime!" Ranea called from the porch.  
"Coming, Ranea! Just a moment!" Sakura called back as she stood and stretched. Scooping up a now snoring Kero, she followed Li and Madison into the brightly lit mansion.  
  
Madison plopped onto the bed besides Sakura's. The two had decided to share Sakura's room together, which was directly across the hall from Li's own large room.  
"Wow. This place is unbelievable." Madison whispered quietly, staring around the room as she picked up her pillow and plopped it in her lap.  
"Isn't it?" Sakura mumbled from the bathroom, where she was brushing her teeth. Emptying her cup and turning out the light, Sakura joined Madison and jumped onto her own feather-mattressed bed.  
Sakura giggled as an especially loud snore erupted from her dresser, where Kero was sleeping quite soundly and not so peacefully in her sock drawer.  
"Our house is nice, but not this nice." Madison said. "Not that I'm complaining or anything. Sometimes, I just wish I had a normal, small house. You can get lost in my house. And with so many maids and such rushing around, it makes it feel like you're in a hotel instead of a house."  
"Grannie's got plenty of maids and servants and butlers, but they've been really good friends of hers for years and years and years, so they seem like family." Sakura said cheerfully as she took her Sealing Wand necklace off and set it on the bedside table between her and Madison's bed.  
"Let's stay up for a while, Sakura! Like at our sleep-overs!" Madison pleaded.  
Sakura giggled. "Just what I was going to suggest!"  
  
"So who do you have a crush on that goes to our school?" Sakura asked.  
Madison blushed deeply, and even in the dim firelight from the crackling fireplace, Sakura could see it easily.  
"No one really."  
"Now, I just don't believe that, Madison! Come on! You can tell me! Who is he?"  
"No one! I really don't have a crush on anyone from our school!"  
"That just means he doesn't go to our school. Do I know him?"  
"Ummm....."  
"I do, don't I! Who he is? Please???"  
Madison sighed. "You don't know him that well....."  
"What's his name?"  
"Have you and Li kissed yet?"  
Sakura was surprised by the sudden change of subject, almost as much as the question itself. Now, she could feel herself going red in the face.  
"Ummm......"  
Madison grinned. "I'll strike a deal with you."  
"What?"  
"You don't bug me about who I like, and I won't ask you another embarrassing question like that again."  
Sakura pouted. "No fair, Madison!"  
"It seems perfectly fair to me! How about it?"  
Sakura humphed, crossing her arms. "Fine! But only because you really don't want to tell me and I know I can get it out of you anytime."  
Madison giggled. "Thanks. Listen, I'm starting to get pretty tired. What time is it?"  
Sakura looked down at the watch Julian had given her {yes, she still has it, even after five years}. "My watch says it's 5:32."  
"Can we try to get a couple hours of sleep? I don't know if I can stand one of your Grannie's shopping excursions you've told me about without at least some sleep."  
"Fine by me! G'night, Madison."  
"Good night."  
  
  
Yeah, I know. This chapter actually spanned into the first day, so sue me!  
No! Don't!  
Not really! Please!  
I've nothing to my name!  
Not even a measly nickle!  
(Raye suddenly realizes someone's in her tent with her...)  
Raye: EEEKKKKK!!! GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!!  
(Raye begins beating the "someone" with a very large Brian Jacques book.)  
The someone: Owwwwww! Stop it, Raye!  
Raye (Panting and out of breath): Ameoba Boy?!?  
Ameoba Boy: What was that you pounded me with?!? It felt like a dictionary.  
(Raye picks up a flashlight and turns it on, looking down at her book.)  
Raye: OHMYGOD!! YOU BENT THE LONG PATROL!!!! {Author's Note: The Long Patrol is a book by British author Brian Jacques, my fav author. I hold his books in reverence and awe equal to Max with her Logan obsession...}  
(Raye begins beating Ameoba Boy with her pillow.)  
Ameoba Boy (Muffled by the pillow): OWWWWWW!  
Raye: What in the Hell are you doing in my tent anyway, Drew?!?!  
Ameoba Boy: Don't call me that!!  
Raye: Then answer me!!!!  
Ameoba Boy: I heard a noise so I-  
Raye: Came over to hide with me?  
(Ameoba Boy nods sheepishly.)  
Ameoba Boy: I was really scared.  
(Raye looks at him for a moment, and Ameoba Boy thinks she feels sympathy for him when-)  
Raye: GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!  
(Raye picks Ameoba Boy up and throws him out of her tent.)  
Ameoba Boy: But Raye!  
(The tent entrance zips up in his face.)  
Ameoba Boy: I'm scared.....  
(Wolf howls in the distance. Ameoba Boy whimpers.)  
Raye: How dare he bend my book!??!?!?!  



	3. Chapter Three: Wars and Shops

  
Sakura in Paris 2  
Part Three: Wars and Shops   
  
Max: You know, for a haunted place, these woods were pretty peaceful last night.  
Ms. Sinic (nodding): I had a great night's sleep. How 'bout you, Ameoba Boy?  
Ameoba Boy: Dark.....screams.....crackings.....scary....  
Max: Riiiiiight. Raye, what's wrong.  
Raye (angrily but sniffling): What's wrong? What's wrong?!!? I'll tell ya what's wrong! Ameoba Boy bent The Long Patrol, that's what's wrong!!  
Max: Say it with me everyone...  
Everyone: My friends are wak!!  
Psycho: Cousin Blair! Quit hiding! I can see you behind that oak tree! Or is that a pine tree? I never did know trees very well.  
Blair Witch: Awwww, Cousin Psycho! I was going to scare you guys!!  
Psycho: With friends like mine, nothing's scary anymore.  
Everybody: Preach it, Sister!!  
  
  
{Disclaimer}  
Don't own crap.  
British Lady: Do you swear?  
Every damn day.  
  
  
The next morning, shortly after 8:00, Ranea came to attempt to wake the sleeping girls.  
"Chere`s! Time to get up! Madame` Marie wants an early start!"  
Luckily for Ranea, the french girl had extremely good reflexes. As two pillows came hurtling towards her face, Ranea dodged into the bathroom.  
Retrieving the fallen pillow ammunition, Ranea threw them back towards their owners.  
Unfortunately for Sakura and Madison, they were too sleepy to dodge the pillows as Ranea had.  
SMACK!  
SMACK!  
Madison and Sakura blinked, their hair sticking up everywhere and their faces squashed flat.  
"Ranea, now you know, this mean WAR!!!!!"  
  
After waiting for an hour downstairs for the girls to make their appearances, Li decided to go and see what in the heck was going on.  
As Li climbed the stairs, the screams and cries of the Great Pillow War reached his ears, closely followed by several large clouds of white goose-feathers.   
Coughing and wading through the fluffy feathers {Cool! Alliteration!}, Li reached the stairs without drowning in the tidal waves of white wisps {Alliteration yet again!}.  
"What'n the Hell?" Li questioned softly as a pillow sailed across the room, missing his nose by millimeters and blowing his hair everywhere.  
Not heeding the stunned boy, the three girls continued their War. Ranea ducked behind her barricade of the fireplace grill after tossing an extremely large pillow at Sakura. As Madison deflected the bomb, Sakura's own pillows rained down on Ranea's head.  
"Die die die die die!!" Sakura cried, laughing manically as Ranea struggled to breathe and escape from under the growing mountain of deadly white linen and feathers.  
"Who ever thought fluffy pillows were so deadly?" Madison mused quietly.  
Sakura stopped laughing for a moment, but didn't cease her deadly hail of Cozy-Comfort Pillows.  
"Yeah! Hey, Madison! You could make a documentary out of this! "Attack of the Killer Kozies"!"  
Maidson's face brightened up considerably. "That is such a great idea!!! What a great new project for me!!!"  
Li's sweat had dropped quite low during all of this, but now it seemed to be sinking into the floor.  
Clearing his throat, Li struggled to gain their attention. "Excuse me, girls....girls? Are you listening to me?"  
Ranea took a wheezy breath as she pulled herself free from her pillow prison {I'm going a little too waky with this alliteration thing, don't ya think?}. Waving a small white flag, she croaked out, "I give up! I give up! Never 'ave I seen such 'orrible carnage! This was even worse than that riot at the mall for the new Poke`mon video game!"  
Sakura and Madison proudly struck heroic poses.  
"Shall we make her sign a treaty?"  
"How does the Treaty of Versailles sound?"  
"Nah, I think the Treay of Ranea's-Promise-To-Never-Wake-Us-Up-Before-10:00-Ever-Again sounds better."  
"GIRLS!!!!!!! ARE YOU DONE YET!!?!?!?!?" Li yelled loudly from the doorway.  
The girls' sweatsdropped and the three giggled nervously.  
"Oh, um, hi, Li...."  
"Sorry about that..."  
"It'll never 'appen again...."  
Li nodded angrily, crossing his arms. "It had better not! I was ashamed to see you three act in such a way. Why, it even made me consider whether or not to-"  
While Li rambled on, the three girls nodded to each other, raising their pillows.  
"And I don't think that that display was suitable for girls at your age-"  
SMACKSMACKSMACK!!  
As the pillows slid from Li's face, the unconscious boy fell back and the girls high-fived, laughing uncontrollably.  
  
"Oooooh! There's a Suncoast! And an Acme Comics! Oh! And an Udders Ice-Cream Shop!! There's so many great places in this mall, Li!" Sakura cried eagerly, pointing at her favorite stores, skipping along bouncily, and squealing in extremely high decibles whenever she saw "something she had to have!".  
Madison's camera whirrled loudly as she focused in on a kissing couple seated on a bench in front of the video arcade, where Sakura was currently losing over fifty-dollars.  
"This place is so full of wonderful shots!!" Madison exclaimed excitedly as the couple stared at her strangely.  
Ranea giggled nervously and grabbed Madison by her shirt collar, pulling her away and mumbling apologies to the couple in french.  
Letting Madison go, Ranea stared at her frostily. As Madison's camera zoomed in on the girl's pissed expression, she gulped.  
"What do you think you are doing?!?!"  
Madison smiled nervously. "Taping things?"  
"You 'ad better be careful about what you tape from now on, Madison! You do not want to get certain people in Paris angered with you!"  
Madison sighed and clicked her camera off, snapping the lenscap back in place.  
"Sorry, Ranea. I'll try to be more careful from now on."  
Sakura and Li came walking up, Sakura hugging an extremely large and extremely purple bear that Li had won for her.  
"What time is it, Ranea?" Li asked as Sakura cooed at her bear, trying to decide whether she should name him "Fuzzy-Whumpums or Mr. Snuggle-by".  
Ranea glanced down at her silver watch. "About a quarter 'til two."  
"And when do we have to meet up with Grannie Marie and Jacque?"  
"Three o' clock."  
"Good! That means we've got an hour left to shop!" Sakura squealed happily. Her three friends winced visibly.  
"Great.... Hey, Ranea?" Madison asked.  
"Hmmm?"  
"Where exactly did Grannie Marie and Jacque go?"  
"Somewhere that 'ad "special and wonderful memories". I've no clue where that is, though."  
  
Grannie Marie sighed happily and leaned back in the velvet carriage seat.  
"This is so relaxing," she said quietly.  
Jacque nodded as he watched the trees overhead.  
"Remember when we were just young children, Jacque? When we used to come to this park everyday and take carriage rides in wonderful open carriages like this one?"  
"'Ow could I forget?"  
  
As Madison and Li struggled to help Sakura carry one of her overflowing bags containing imported mangas, videos, figurines, dolls, ect. ect., Ranea looked down to her silver watch again.  
"We 'ad better 'urry, guys! It's nearly three, and we don't want to miss the concert, do we?"  
  
  
How was it? Yeah I know, Jacque and Marie do have a little thing going on.... But they've been practically a couple for over forty years now! Gimme a break! Although Marie was married to Sakura's grandpa until about seven or eight years ago, Jacque and her were never really together. They had a flame for each other years before, but it never worked out. Now it looks like the flame's rekindling....  
Max (pulling her hair out): Enough! Enough! Make it all stop!  
Ms. Sinic: Make what all stop?  
Max: The horrible mental pictures of those two geezers together!  
Raye & Ms. Sinic: I think it's romantic...   
(Both sigh and flutter their eyelashes.)  
Max (sweatdropping): Dear God, please help me...  
Ameoba Boy (screaming as he runs by the three): DEAR GOD HELP ME!!!!!!!!!  
Psycho: But Ameoba Boy! Chucky just wants to say hi....  
Chucky: I will kill you with a garden hoe!  
Psycho: Among other things....  
Ameoba Boy: HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND PURE!!! HELP ME!!!!  
Max (sighing): We better go help him.  
(Ms. Sinic and Raye stare blankly at Heather.)  
Both: And why should we?  
Max: Because he just asked us to in the name of all that is good and pure. Which means he just asked for help in Logan's name, so now I am forced to help him.  
(The three give chase after the other two {and a half including Chucky}....)   



	4. Chapter Four: Dreams

  
Sakura in Paris 2  
Part Four: Dreams   
  
Raye: As a council, we've come to a decision.  
Ameoba Boy: What council? There was a council?!? Why doesn't anyone ever tell me these things?!?!?  
Raye: You're an annoying ameoba, Drew. No one ever NEEDS to tell you these things.  
(Ameoba Boy retreats to his tent, sniffling and muttering about ungrateful friends.)  
Ms. Sinic: Before you were so rudely interrupted....  
Raye: Thank you very much, Ms. Sinic. As I was saying, we've decided to begin Operation Treehouse.  
Psycho: Um.....What was Operation Treehouse again?  
(Everyone sweatdrops.)  
Max: Psycho, did anyone ever tell you you're strange?  
Psycho (nodding solemnly): That was the only thing the Zellers nurses told me.  
(Everyone sweatdrops again.)  
Raye: Okay, Operation Treehouse has two stages. One, we make Ameoba Boy build a giant treehouse for us, and Two, we move in.  
Everybody but Ameoba Boy: Yeah!  
Ameoba Boy: Hey.....Wait just a minute!!  
  
  
{Disclaimer}  
Mashpotatoes! Butter toast!  
Ms. Sinic: What's wrong with Ange?  
Max (sighing): She got into the Mountain Dew and pixie stix again.  
Raye: I wanna kiss a chipmunk! Ooops. There it goes again. My brain stopped.  
Ms. Sinic: I've got Zellers on hold. What should I say?  
Max: Tell them to get a paddywagon over here as soon as possible. Code Purple!  
Guy on the Phone: Dear Lord! Code Purple?!? Raye?!? AGAIN?!?!  
Ms. Sinic: Yep! And hurry! She's getting worse!  
Max: Where are you going with that machete`, Ange?  
Raye: I'm gonna go an' kill Clamp for creating Cardcaptors an' not letting me buy it!  
(Ms. Sinic and Max jump on Raye, managing to rip the dangerous knife from the deranged girl.)  
Raye: LarryBoy! Come save me!!!!  
  
  
After attending a somewhat boring concert {practically an opera}, the gang returned home to Marie Mansion {he he!} well after midnight.  
Sakura groaned as she stumbled on the staircase again. Li narrowly caught her before she fell, and the two of them had to take several minutes of blushing in silence to summon the strength to finish their climb.  
Sakura and Madison, asleep on their feet, clomped into their bedroom in silence, and started to get ready for bed. Several minutes later, three servants {Rosetta, Jean, and Pollyanna} stomped into the room, lugging several beyond-bulging shopping bags behind them and groaning with the effort.  
Falling into deep sleeps as soon as their heads touched the pillows, the two friends slipped into strange, surprising, dreams.  
  
Madison felt as though she were falling. Falling into an endless, absolute black cataclsym. She felt detached, uncaring and unfeeling, as she descended ever deeper.  
Where's Sakura and the others? Madison thought suddenly, surprising her fog-enshrouded mind with the intelligent question.  
Suddenly, panic overtook her. She struggled to force her way back to the surface, back into the light, away from the suddenly frightening, cold darkness. But no matter how hard she struggled, Madison could feel herself growing weaker, losing her conscious thought once more.   
As she felt herself sinking once more, she cried out desperately in her mind.  
Help me! Please! I don't want to leave yet!!  
As her mind blanked, a strange, crackling sensation overtook her, as though she were on fire. But she felt no pain, saw nothing, heard nothing abnormal.  
She blinked as a narrow beam of intense light hit her, blinding her and disorienting her.  
What.... Madison thought groggily as she felt the strange blankness lift from her mind and body.  
A shadow appeared in the beam of white light, descending slowly towards her with arms outstretched.  
Madison! Madison! Don't give up! Stay strong!  
Madison was more puzzled than ever. What? Who are you? What do you mean?  
Don't die! Don't leave me alone!  
Who is that? I've never heard the voice before, but it seems familiar somehow....  
A hand suddenly clasped hers, warm and comforting in the utter blackness of the void. She felt as though the stranger were smiling at her, even though his face was obscured by shadow.  
I'm so glad we're finally together again, Madison! Madison! My soulmate!  
As warm lips touched hers, Madison bolted up in bed, awake and quite confused by the strange dream.  
  
Sakura giggled as a shower of fresh cherry petals fell down from the beautiful cherry tree, covering her with a snow of pink and white flowers.   
She was so happy here, content and complete, surrounded by her love and her friends. Li sat beside her on the warm, sun-kissed grass, his strong hand clasped in hers. Madison was giggling as she focused her camera in on Chelsea, who was angrily berating Zachary for a new, wild story he had just invented. Seated not far away, on a crisp picnic blanket, were Grannie Marie and Jacque, who were smiling and laughing as if young again. Rita was blushing as she watched Mr. Terada walk past on a hurried errand.  
Kero snored gently in her lap, his tiny chest rising and falling with each loud breath. Ranea shrieked as Jean, her boyfriend, dropped a wet frog down her apron back. Moments later, the french maid was up and running after the uncontrollably laughing, sprinting Jean.  
Sakura sighed happily. It was so peaceful, so wonderful here. So right.  
A strong breeze picked up, blowing cherry-blossom petals from Sakura's hair as it whipped past the happy group.  
A shadowy figure stood at the edge of the sun-lit clearing, his face in blackness.  
Even as Sakura watched the figure, she knew inwardly that he meant no harm; quite the opposite. Dressed in a black school uniform, the boy that was clearly their age raised a hand slowly.  
Madison looked up in surprise as something bright flashed through the sunlight, coming to rest beside her on the soft grass.  
The stunned girl picked the shining object up and gasped.  
"You've come back!" Madison whispered happily, tears bright in her eyes.   
Sakura looked at her friend, then back to the stranger.  
"Madison, what is it?" Chelsea and Rita chorused wonderingly.  
"He's come back to me! After waiting so many lifetimes, he's come back to me!" Madison whispered, oblivious to all around her.  
Held in her hands was a glittering heart-locket, engraved with spiraling ruby and emerald flowers.  
  
  
Ms. Sinic (swinging a golden medallion back and forth in front of Raye): You are under my control. You are under my control. You shall tell me who the stranger is!  
Raye: I am not under your control. I am not under your control. I shall not tell you who the stranger is!  
Ms. Sinic (throwing the medallion aside and pouting): No fair! I wanna know.  
Raye: Tough Tacos. You'll have to wait like everyone else.  
Ameoba Boy (wheezing as he crawls up, a large green board tied to his back): Why ....do..... I .... have ..... to.....do...all...of....the...work?  
Ms. Sinic: Because you're my slave.  
Ameoba Boy (angrily): SAYS WHO?!?!?  
Ms. Sinic: Says our contract. (Unrolls a parchment and holds it up for Ameoba Boy to read. He scans it quickly.)  
Ameoba Boy: I don't remember signing that!  
Max: I would hope not! You were half-unconscious when you did.  
Ameoba Boy: And WHY was I half-unconscious?  
Max: Ms. Sinic had just beat the crap out of you and you begged for mercy. She made you sign the contract so you could keep your life.  
Ameoba Boy: I'll accept that.  
Ms. Sinic: Now get back to work, slave!  
Ameoba Boy: Yes, Mistress...  
(Goes back to work.)  
Max: Hey, Raye?  
Raye: Yeah?  
Max: Where's Chucky, Psycho, and the Blair Witch?  
Raye: Psycho found a campsite nearby, and took her "family" to go and check it out.  
Max: Dear Lord have mercy on those poor campers' souls...  
Psycho: Hey guys! I found out who the campers are!  
Everyone: Who?  
Psycho: Nikki (a.k.a. the B.O.S. {or Bride Of Satan}.), Mad Trad (a.k.a. Shitzuo {to quote what my friend Max once said, "If she got any b*tchier, we'd have to name a dog after her." Well, this is close, ain't it Max?}.), Micky M. (a.k.a. Michelle), and Kyle Cotham (boring ol' Kyle Cough-'em-up.)!   
{Author's Note: Do you remember SIP1, where Da Bomb was accused of killin' Kyle? If ya don't, read the fic! Sorry. Anyway, wondering how he's alive now? It's simple. I'm the author. And as such, I can have whatever I want to have happen happen to whoever I want! So there! HAHAHAH!}  
Everybody: KILL THEM ALL KILL THEM ALL KILL THEM ALL!!  
Raye: Can't you sense just the tiniest amount of animosity between us and the "other" campers?  



	5. Chapter Five: Lazy Days

  
Sakura in Paris 2  
Part Five: Lazy Days  
  
(Ameoba Boy is staring stupidly at the treehouse looming above him in disbelief.)  
Ameoba Boy (thinking): I've finally finished it!  
Ameoba Boy (as he collapses at Ms. Sinic, Max, and Raye's feet.): It's........done......  
(Ameoba Boy has singlehandedly built a giant treehouse fort for the Gang in one of the tallest trees in the Blair Woods. The tree house looks like something out of Swiss Family Robinson....)  
Raye: Congrats, Ameoba Boy! You actually did something right for once.  
(Ameoba Boy is unable to hear her praise.....He's too busy being unconscious.)  
Psycho: Great! Let's move in and start decorating!  
(Skips towards the tree's ladder with Blair Witch effigies and small animal skeletons.Everyone's sweatdrops.)  
Max: Um, Psycho?  
(Psycho stops hanging a Blair Witch effigy and turns in question.)  
Psycho: Yeah, Max?  
Max: What'n the Hell do you think you're doing?  
Psycho: Makin' the treehouse feel like home!  
(Everyone sweatdrops.)  
Ms. Sinic: Let's get inside. Chucky and the Blair Witch should be back in an hour or so.  
(Ameoba Boy suddenly regains consciousness.)  
Ameoba Boy: Wheredidtheygo? (His brain seems to have been scrambled a bit. He's probably just having a minor burnout.)  
Raye: To destroy the F-ing Four.  
Heaven: Watch your language Raye.  
Raye: I'll cuss as many f-ing bloody times I well and f-ing please!  
Max: Do you get the idea that she likes to say f-ing?  
{Author's Note: Cover the youngins eyes from the last few sentences. I had to let loose my agression and hatred somehow....}  
  
  
{Disclaimer}  
Ms. Sinic & Max: What are you doing, Raye?  
Raye (Humming happily): I'm digging the F-ing Four's graves.  
(Two sweats drop.)  
Max: Um, Ange?  
Raye: Yeah?  
Max: How do you know that Chucky and Blair will succeed in their mission of murder?  
Raye: I just know! I mean, c'mon Max! Those two are the most evil entities in the entire world. Other than us. How can they fail?  
Ms. Sinic (sighing): Just stop digging for a minute and say your disclaimer.  
Raye (while still digging.): Me no own Cardcaptors. Clamp do.  
(Max and Ms. Sinic pat Raye's back as they wrest the shovel from her.)  
Max: Good Raye. Let's go get your medication now.....  
  
  
Madison sighed happily as she lazed on the soft grass in her bikini.  
"This is paradise. Pure and simple." Madison said as she stretched and pulled her sunglasses on.  
Sakura nodded sleepily and patted Kero, who was strectched out on a washcloth next to her. Kero swatted the hand away and struggled to reach his back with suntan lotion.  
"Sakura! Quit it! I've got to get this crud on! I don't want to get sunburned!"  
"What color would Kero turn if he did get sunburned? Purple?" Madison questioned uninterestedly.  
"And just what are you implying?" Kero asked coldly.  
"Nothing. I was just wondering."  
Kero snorted angrily, finished with his suntan lotion, and pulled a pair of ridiculously large, red-tinted sunglasses on that dwarfed his head immensely.  
  
"Sakura?! Where are you!" Li called from the porch.  
Sakura snapped out of her lazy reverie long enough to wave to the faraway boy.  
"We're out here by the pond, Li! Come on over!"  
As Li walked up, he suddenly noticed that the two girls were wearing their bikinis. Blushing furiously, he turned and began talking to them facing the mansion.  
"Grannie Marie wants to know if you want some lunch brought out." Li said, struggling to keep his voice steady and his mind clean.  
"Li? Why are you talking to us like that?" Sakura questioned innocently.  
"Well....you know.....you're.....in.......your bikinis." Li faltered, turning beyond beet-red.  
Sakura and Madison struggled to smother giggles. Kero snored uproarishly on, oblivious to anything going on around him.  
"You don't have to be so embarrassed, Li! Come on! You can turn around!" Sakura said laughingly, sitting up.  
Li turned around slowly, his eyes closed. "I still don't think I should..."  
"Li! We're only in bikinis. It's not like we're nude or something." Sakura said through her giggles.  
Li began turning bright red again at that comment, still refusing to open his eyes.  
"Come on, Li! Get used to it!"  
Li's eyes opened into tiny slits, then a tiny bit wider before snapping shut again, his blush deepening even more.  
Madison giggled. She didn't think Li could turn any more redder.  
"Li. I demand you open your eyes!" Sakura said, standing and crossing her arms impatiently.  
Li's eyes opened again. "I just-"  
"Get over it!" Sakura said laughingly. "I don't think you should be so embarrassed over me wearing a bikini! It's not anything that horribly revealing."  
Li blushed again. That's strange. Her bikini seems pretty revealing to me...  
Sakura sighed. "Let's go get our lunch and come back out, Madison. And Li can get changed and come out too!"  
The two girls ran off giggling loudly, leaving Li to blush even more.  
  
  
Short, I know, but I'm busy waiting for Chucky and Blair to come back!  
(Raye is sitting in the treehouse window, dressed in camoflouge and war-paint, wearing a helmet covered in twigs and grass, binoculars up to her eyes. She'd look much more professional if her helmet was an actual army one, instead of a bright orange bike helmet. And her war-paint isn't quite paint....try magenta lipstick....)  
Max: Raye-  
Raye: AHHHHH!!! UP AND READY TROOPS!! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!!  
(Stops suddenly and realizes it's Max.)  
Raye: Oops. Sorry, Max.  
Ms. Sinic (as Max is wiggling a finger in her defeaned ear): Raye, what do you think you're doing up this late? It's nearly one.  
Raye: I thought I heard some noises, so I thought I'd be ready for anything. Oh, and I'm starting to worry about Chucky and Blair. They should have been back hours ago. I wonder what's taking them?  
Max: I think you need some sleep and another dose of your meds.  
Raye: No! I don't want to go to bed yet! Just a bit longer!  
(Blair Witch suddenly floats through the door.)  
Max & Raye & Ms. Sinic: Blair? Where's Chucky?  
Blair Witch: I've some horrible news....  
(Three gasp)  
Max: He isn't...  
Ms. Sinic: Dead?  
(Blair Witch shakes her head solemnly.)  
Blair Witch: I'm afraid it's worse. Much worse. He's fallen in love with the B.O.S.  
(Stunned silence.)  
Raye (wailing sadly): Is there nothing good left in this world?!?! Why must God be so cruel?!!?  
(Begins sobbing uncontrollably.)  



	6. Chapter Six: Shawn

  
Sakura in Paris 2  
Part Six: Shawn  
  
(A tearful Raye breaks the sad news to the Gang the next morning....)  
Raye: Chucky has fallen in love with the B.O.S. Therefore, he is considered dead to us forever. (Begins crying uncontrollably.)  
Psycho: I am going into mourning with Cousin Blair. We must mourn the loss of my little brother.  
(Psycho and Blair disappear into the woods.)  
Raye: We shall finish our camping and we'll leave for my house tomorrow. I ask that everyone says a last prayer for poor Chucky.  
(Gang nods sadly.)  
Raye: I'm going to the treehouse, and I don't want to be disturbed. Oh, before I forget. Ameoba Boy, go get more water and firewood.  
Ameoba Boy: But-  
Raye: NOW!!!  
(Ameoba Boy crashes into the undergrowth.)  
  
  
{Dsclaimer}  
Now, to try my hand at Shakespeare......  
To claim ownership of Cardcaptors, or not to claim ownership?  
That is the question.  
For is it not unlawful to?  
When Clamp doth own the copyrights?  
Ah, 'tis a sad, sad thing to come to.  
'Tis a far better place I'll go to.  
(Catches a plane for Japan.)  
Yes, I know I'm strange. 8-P {smiley face!}  
  
  
As Madison crossed the anteroom and made her way towards the grand staircase, a timid knocking at the door reached her ears.  
Looking around for any servants or maids to answer the door, Madison realized it was Sunday. Except for Cooky, Ranea, Jean, and Jacque, the house was empty of hired-help.  
Sighing, Madison went to answer the door.  
Standing on the front steps was a boy her age, dressed in tattered jeans, a faded gray t-shirt, and a worn jean jacket. A filled to bulging bookbag was slung over a shoulder, held together with safety-pins and old rope.  
"Hello. Can I help you?" Madison asked cheerfully.  
The boy coughed nervously, brushing sandy-brown hair from brillant green eyes.  
"Is Ranea here?" He had a soft, quiet voice, and clearly wasn't french by his accent.  
Madison started visibly. That voice! It's the same one from my dream! What does it mean?  
The boy watched her nervously, afraid he had done something wrong.  
Madison regained her composure and smiled kindly at the boy. "I'm sorry about that. Please forgive me. Yes, Ranea's here. Come on in. I'll go find her."  
Leaving the boy to stand silently in the large anteroom, Madison raced up the long staircase to find Ranea.  
  
Madison found Ranea in the sewing room, hard at work mending a torn dress shirt.  
"Ranea? Could you come downstairs for a moment?"  
Ranea sighed as she backed up to redo a stitch she had missed. "Why, Chere`?"  
"A boy's here to see you."  
"A boy? What is 'is name?"  
"I'm not really sure." Madison said sheepishly.  
"What does 'e look like then?"  
"He's got brown hair, green eyes, and a soft, shy voice. He's pretty cute, too." Madison said, blushing ever-so-slightly.  
"Is 'e now?" Ranea questioned slyly, Madison's blush deepening.  
"He doesn't look very well off, though, Ranea." Madison added quietly.  
Ranea sighed as she started her sewing machine again. "Tell 'im I'll be down in a few minutes. Why don't you talk to 'im before I get down? Try to get to know 'im better."  
Madison nodded and hurried back downstairs.  
The boy didn't seem to have moved an inch since Madison had gone upstairs. Amid the finery of the rich mansion, he looked very forlorn and out of place.  
"Why don't we go to the parlor to wait for Ranea?"  
"Okay."  
  
The boy gingerly sat on the flower-patterned chair Madison pointed to.  
"So, what's your name?" Madison asked. Jean, rushing by the open parlor door, stopped and peered in curiously.  
"Jean? Could you bring us a tray of some cookies and tea, please?"  
Jean nodded and left in a hurry.  
"I'll tell you my name if you'll tell me yours."  
Madison smiled. "That's only fair. My name's Madison."  
"Mine's Shawn. Madison is a pretty name." Shawn said shyly, looking down quickly.  
Madison smiled, blushing brightly. "Shawn suits you. You look like a Shawn." Madison's grin widened as Shawn looked up. "Do I look like a Madison?"  
"Well, you're pretty, and Madison's a pretty name."  
Madison's blush deepened.  
  
"So you're from the Orphanage?" Madison asked softly, in a sad voice. "I'm so sorry."  
Shawn shrugged lightly. "It's not that bad. The Orphanage people are nice enough, and you're never lonely there."  
"But still! Losing your parents in a car crash like that! How horrible!" Madison insisted.  
Shawn shrugged again and lowered his eyes. "I never knew them. I was only a baby when they died. I'm not that sad about them."  
"Well, I don't want you to be, but it's still a sad thing to happen to someone as nice as you, Shawn!"  
Shawn looked up in surprise, brown hair falling across his green eyes. "You think I'm nice?"  
Madison blushed crimson and cleared her throat nervously. "Well.....Yes, Shawn! I know we only met an hour ago, but I think you're a very nice person!"  
"Thank you, Madison. You're very kind."  
Madison blushed again.   
Ranea cleared her throat from the doorway. Unbeknownst to them, she had been standing there for quite some time.  
"I'm done with the sewing now, Chere`. You can go ahead and do whatever you want now."  
Madison sighed and set her tea-cup down. She stood and smiled reassuringly at the very nervous Shawn as she left, closing the door softly behind her with a click.  
  
"So, Shawn. You'd like a job 'ere?" Ranea mused softly.  
Shawn nodded eagerly. "Yes, Madame`! I promise I'm a good worker. I'll do whatever you'd like me to."  
Ranea smiled. "Just call me Ranea. I'm not that much older than you. I'm only seventeen. 'Ow old are you?"  
"Sixteen."  
"Well, Shawn. You seem like a nice boy, and Madison's certainly approved of you. And seeing on 'ow we can always use another pair of 'ands around, I suppose I'll 'ire you."  
Shawn was speechless. "Really?"  
Ranea nodded. "We'll get you settled in tonight, and tomorrow Jacque and I can give you the tour and your duties."  
Shawn stood, smiling widely, and bowed politely to Ranea. "Thank you so very much, Ranea! I promise I'll be a good worker!"  
"Chere`?"  
Madison's head suddenly appeared in the doorway. "Yes?"  
"Do you know where room 114 is? It's on the fourth floor, to the right of the stairs. Could you take Shawn up and get 'im settled in?"  
"Sure!"  
Shawn smiled to Madison as he followed her up the stairs, his dilapidated bookbag slung over a shoulder.  
  
Madison threw open the balcony windows and sighed. "You've got a much nicer view of the Garden from your room. Your balcony's higher up than mine."  
Shawn hesitantly set his bookbag on the four-poster bed. "This room seems too nice for me. Are you sure this is the right room?"  
"Sure I'm sure! This is your room." Madison said with a giggle.  
"It still seems too nice."  
"You're hired help here now, and that means you're family!"  
"Thanks, Madison."  
"No problem. If you need any help or anything, just call." Madison said as she left and closed the door behind her.  
As Shawn began unpacking, a golden heart-locket dropped out of his bookbag. The boy picked it up and opened it. Inside was an old black and white photo of a young couple. He had no idea who the couple was, but he had always had the locket, so he had always assumed the couple were old family of his. The young man even looked like him, only older.  
Shawn frowned as he looked down at the picture.  
The girl in this picture looks an awful lot like Madison....  
  
  
{I know that part was longer than usual, but you better not be complaining! Or ...... x_X}  
Ameoba Boy: Now, where is that creek again?  
(A loud hooting startles the paramecium. Ameoba Boy jumpes in fright and his foot falls into a large mole-hole.)  
Ameoba Boy: What the-?  
(A sudden strange squeaking fills the air.)  
Ameoba Boy: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!  
(Mutated, glowing-green moles are swarming over the hapless mitochondria.)  
Ameoba Boy: AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!  
(He runs blindly into a cave with several moles clinging to and biting him.)  
Ameoba Boy: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!  
(He runs OUT of the cave screaming, now with bats AND moles attacking him. Ameoba Boy dives into a pond and escapes the tiny terrors.)  
Ameoba Boy (as he pulls himself onto the bank): What in the Hell could possibly go worse?  
(A brillant green light lands on Ameoba Boy from above.)  
Aliens: TAKE US TO YOUR LEADER!  
Ameoba Boy: Oh shit. Why did I have to go and open my big gob?   



	7. Chapter Seven: Maze Mishaps

  
Sakura in Paris 2  
Part Seven: Maze Mishaps  
  
Raye: WHERE IS AMEOBA BOY!!!?!??!  
(Ms. Sinic and Max look up in surprise as Her Royal Highness Raye stomps out of her "chambers".)  
Raye: Where is my slave?! Where is my wood and water?!?!  
Ms. Sinic: Hey! Ameoba Boy is MY slave!!  
(Max elbows Ms. Sinic.)  
Max: You wanna get yourself killed?!?!  
(Luckily, Raye didn't hear.)  
Raye (eyes blood-red): WHERE. IS. AMEOBA. BOY?!?!?!?!?  
(Ameoba Boy suddenly stumbles into camp, looking as though he's been to Hell and back.)  
(Raye jumps on the hapless microorganism and begins to throttle him.)  
Raye (As she shakes Ameoba Boy's head back and forth): AND JUST WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!?!?  
Ameoba Boy: The green moles.....the bats......the aliens....Ahhh! The aliens! Probes! Saws!!  
(Everyone sweatdrops as Ameoba Boy goes swirly-eyed and passes out.)  
Everybody: Sure....  
  
{Disclaimer}  
Look everybody! It's Wufei from Gundam Wing!!  
Wufei: Hey you! Yeah you, Ms.I'm-such-a-good-author! I've got a bone to pick with you! Why do you always have to humiliate poor Ameoba Boy? You treat him worse than you do me in all of your GW fics! Why don't you just back off and leave us alone?!?  
(Three shotguns cock loudly. Wufei chuckles weakly at the gun barrels he's staring down.)  
Wufei: Oh! Just look at the time!! I've got to go meet Heero and the guys!  
Raye (menacing the Gundam pilot with her gun): Say it!  
Wufei: Sorry, Raye! Your fics are just great, even if you don't own Cardcaptors!  
  
  
The next morning, while Madison was still asleep, Sakura left the warm bedroom and knocked timidly on Li's bedroom door.  
"Who is it?" Li groaned sleepily as he rolled over in bed and pulled a pillow over his head.  
"It's me, Li." Sakura whispered. "Can I come in?"  
Not quite comprehending who was outside or what they had just asked, Li groaned a yes through his pillow.  
Sakura closed the door behind her with a click and stood waiting for Li to look up; he was currently buried in his pillow.  
"Li?"  
Li sat up slowly, yawned, and blinked sleepily at Sakura. Suddenly, he was wide awake and very embarrassed.  
"AHHHH!!" Li cried, diving under his covers.  
Sakura frowned slightly. "And what's wrong with you?"  
"You're in my room, at 5:00 in the morning, and I'm barely dressed! Why did you just barge in here like that?!" Li said from under the covers.  
"I didn't barge in. I told you I was coming in and you said okay." Sakura pouted angrily.  
"You should know I can't think straight at 5:00 A.M.!"  
Sakura groaned and tried to pull the covers off of Li, but he held on like Kero with a candy bar. Sakura let go of the sheets and thought for a moment.  
Li froze as Sakura climbed into bed beside him.  
"Uh, Sakura?"  
"Hmmm?" Sakura said softly as she edged closer.  
"Just what do you think you're doing?"  
"I'm cold, Li. Keep me warm."  
Li's head emerged from the bed sheets, with a look of fearful disbelief on his face. Sakura sat back on her heels and giggled.  
"I knew that'd get you out!"  
  
Madison lay in her bed, reflecting over what Sakura had told her last night.  
"I'm curious, Sakura. Why did Shawn ask to see Ranea about getting a job? Why didn't he ask to see Grannie Marie or Jacque?"  
"Because the Orphanage sends people to Ranea."  
"But why?"  
"Because Ranea can relate with the orphans!"  
"You mean-"  
"Ranea's an orphan. She's from the Orphanage."  
  
Madison got dressed, grabbed a recharged camera, and opened the door to her room.  
Standing there, with a fist raised to knock, was Shawn. He colored crimson and lowered his hand slowly.  
"Hi, Shawn! How was your first night?"  
"Fine, thank you." Shawn mumbled as Madison closed the bedroom door.  
"Uh, I was wondering Madison. I just finished trimming the Maze, and I've got nothing else to do, so I was wondering..... Would you like to go through the Maze with me?"  
Madison smiled. "Sure, Shawn! I'd love to!"  
  
"Where's Madison?" Sakura asked Ranea later that day. Ranea giggled.  
"Chere` and Shawn went to explore the Maze an 'our or so ago." Ranea said with a wink.  
Sakura gasped. "You mean?"  
Ranea nodded knowingly. "Exactly!"  
"Awww! How sweet!" Sakura cried, stars in her eyes and her hands clasped beneath her chin. "They're such a great couple, aren't they?"  
  
Madison looked up nervously. "Um, Shawn?"  
"Yes?"  
"Don't you think it's getting awful dark?"  
"Yes."  
"And it isn't that late, is it?"  
"No."  
"Then that means there's a storm coming. Maybe we should start back for the mansion. Shawn?"  
Shawn looked down nervously, refusing to meet Madison's eyes. "Um, well, to be truthful, Madison, we're lost. We have been for the past hour or so."  
"Lost?!?!"  
"Yes. There's a small rose bush near the exit, and I haven't seen it anywhere."  
"Oh no!" Madison cried, clicking her camera on and focusing in on the cloudy sky. "We're in trouble!"  
  
  
So, we're going home now. Chucky and the B.O.S., the nerve of them, came to camp to tell us they're leaving to get married in Vegas. Go figure! Well, at least Chucky looked happy. The B.O.S. didn't though. Not with that sharpened garden hoe at her neck. I suppose you could say that she didn't accept Chucky's proposal willingly. *(^-^)*  
Max: Come on! Quit yapping, and let's go!  
Raye: Shaddup! Who's writing this fic, me or you?  
Max: This fic'll be ashes in three seconds if you don't get your arse in action! Help me and Ms. Sinic get these tents in the truck. *(_)*  
Ms. Sinic: Hey, Ange? Who's truck is this? Where did it come from? Who in the hell drove it out here?!?  
Raye: Don't have a spaz attack, Ms. Sinic! Geez. It's Christopher's truck. We needed a ride, and he had nothin' better to do.  
Max & Ms. Sinic: Oh! We see! (Begin winking and fluttering their eyelashes.)  
Raye: Shaddup! (Smacks the two of them upside the head with a tent stake.)  
Ms. Sinic & Max: Owww!  
Raye: Ameoba Boy! Wake up! I'm sure as hell not touching you!  
(Ameoba Boy sits up ramrod straight, throroughly scaring Raye and co..)  
Ameoba Boy: Sizxxxx! Retailtrunkiksaiyan? Sizxxxxxxxxxxxx!  
(Three sweatdrops fall)  
Raye & Max & Ms. Sinic: Oooookay..... *(-_-)*  
Christopher: C'mon you guys! Hurry up! I'm gonna miss Jerry Springer!  
Ms. Sinic: Oh Dear Lord! I forgot to program my tape! *(^O^)*  
(Everyone clambers in, Ameoba Boy climbs up, walking as if Frankenstein.)  
Ms. Sinic: Step on it, Christopher! I'm not missing today's episode! It's about teenage aliens who cheat on their girlfriends! *(^o^)*  
Max & Raye: Aren't all the episodes about teenage aliens who cheat on their girlfriends?  
Ms. Sinic: Yeah, but the aliens were never from Planet X before!  
(Max and Raye sweatdrop as the truck speeds away out of the forest. Ameoba Boy has the window rolled down and his head stuck through it, his tongue hanging out....)  
Ameoba Boy: Snicklefritz!!!  



	8. Chapter Eight: Thunderstorms

  
Sakura in Paris 2  
Part Eight: Thunderstorms  
  
{I've got a question to ask anyone out there that knows any french. What does cherchez la femme mean? I'm dying to know!! Please tell me! I think it means something like "the deadly woman" or something, but I'm not sure! Enlighten me!}  
We're home at last. Ahhh. Home sweet home. So peaceful. So tranquil. So.....  
Ms. Sinic: GIVE ME THE F-ING REMOTE!!!!!  
Max: I wanna watch Seasame Street!  
Raye: ....so f-ing crowded.....  
Christopher: Just shut up, please. (Sweatdrops.)  
Ameoba Boy: Sassafrass!  
Psycho: I'M HE-RE!!!!  
(Everyone stares at her in silence until her sweatdrops.)  
Psycho: Uh, just thought, that I'd, you know, let you know....  
(Sits on the couch by Raye.)  
Ms. Sinic: I'm hungry!  
Max: Me too.  
Christopher: What time is it?  
Raye: One.  
Ms. Sinic: C'mon, Ange! Let's make a jumbo pot of mac 'n cheeze!  
Raye: I'm with ya, pal!  
(The two disappear into the kitchen. Minutes later, several clatters and screams can be heard. Everyone rushes into the room to find everything from the cabinets scattered everywhere and Raye and Ms. Sinic sitting in the midst of it all.)  
Raye: No! It can't be true! *(ToT)* {Tears streaming down her face.}  
Christopher: What is it?! What's the matter?!  
Ms. Sinic: THERE'S NO MAC 'N CHEEZE!!!!! (Begins sobbing hopelessly.)  
(Three sweatsdrop.)  
Max: Point being.....  
Raye & Ms. Sinic: WE CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT MAC!!  
Psycho: So go to the store and buy some more.  
(Tears continue streaming down their faces.)  
Raye: THAT'S JUST IT! I HAVE NO MORE MONEY!!!  
  
  
{Disclaimer}  
I cannot live without mac 'n cheeze.  
Neither can Ms. Sinic.  
So we go outta control if we don't get none.  
Ms. Stevens: Un uh! You DO NOT use double negatives in the same sentence!  
Ah, shaddup!  
Ms. Stevens: Well! I never.... As your old literature teacher, I demand you listen to me!  
Oh yeah? Well listen to this, Stevens. I don't never ever own Cardcaptors 'cause I didn't never create it! Clamp went and done made it! How do ya like them apples, huh?!?  
  
  
Sakura looked out at the stormy sky nervously. "Jacque? Has Madison and Shawn come back yet?"  
Jacque looked up from the letter he was writing. "Pardon? Madison and Shawn? No, I 'aven't seen them. Sorry, Sakura."  
Sakura sighed. "I'll give them ten more minutes. Then I'll go out there and find them myself."  
  
Madison shivered as the rain began to fall, in slow, freezing drops. She was soaked completely through in less than no time, and Shawn didn't look any better.  
"Ewww! My socks are all soggy!" Madison complained as she splashed through an extremely muddy puddle.  
Shawn shook water out of his eyes and trudged onwards stolidly. "Let's keep walking and pray that we find the exit in the next five minutes."  
"I don't think I've ever been colder. Not even when the Freeze Car-, I mean not even last winter." Madison stumbled on shakily. "It feels like a deep freeze out here."  
"Why did you start to say Freeze Card? And why did you break off like that?" Shawn asked curiously, turning to stare penetratingly at the shivering Madison.  
"What do you mean? I didn't start to say Freeze Card." Madison stuttered through chattering teeth.  
"Yes you did! And you were thinking about Sakura when you said it. Why?"  
Madison skidded to a sudden, squelchy stop. "I was thinking about Sakura! How did you know that?"  
Shawn quickly dropped his eyes and began sloshing through the mud again. "Let's keep going. We shouldn't be too far away from the exit."  
"Wait a minute!" Madison cried, grabbing Shawn by a damp arm and stopping him. "How did you know what I was thinking?"  
Shawn lowered his head. "I just did." The whisper barely reached Madison's ears. "I just hear people's thoughts." He suddenly looked up, frightened.  
"We've got to go!"  
Madison gasped loudly as Shawn grabbed her right hand in his and pulled her along after him in a fast run.  
"Shawn! What is it?!" Madison screamed over the thunder and wailing wind as they turned another maze corner.  
"We've got to get out of here! The shadow's coming!"  
  
Sakura peered down through the rain, struggling to find Madison and Shawn through the water whipping past her face. She paused briefly to push a wet lock of hair behind an ear before returning her hands to a tight-knuckle clasp on the flying wand.  
"Madison! Madison! Can you hear me?!?!" Sakura cried in despair. Where could they be?!!  
A sudden movement caught Sakura's eye. Glaring down through the sleet-like rain, Sakura managed to make out two small forms, running through the winding Maze.  
"Madison!!! Wait there!" Sakura cried through the maelstrom, knowing that her friend probably hadn't even heard her, before speeding downwards.  
  
Madison and Shawn skidded to a surprised stop as Sakura appeared, diving down towards them from the slate-gray sky.  
"What the?" Shawn gasped out as she landed with a splash.  
"We've got to get inside! It's not safe for you two to be out here!" Sakura said as she called the Fly Card back.  
"And you think we're just doing this for our health?!?!" Madison screamed angrily at her stunned friend. "We've BEEN TRYING to get out of here for the past three hours!!!!"  
"But how will we get out of here?" Shawn asked quietly, seemingly no worse the wear for the sudden shock of seeing Sakura flying.  
"Li lent me the Lasin Board. Seeing as how this isn't the Maze Card, it should work for us."  
A stream of blue-white light pointing the way, the three ran through the creaking Maze, to safety and home, Shawn hurrying ahead of the girls.  
"We have to hurry! The shadow's getting closer!"  
  
  
(Max, Christopher, and Psycho are in Raye's kitchen, calling Zellers. Raye and Ms. Sinic are currently sitting in the living room, eyes glazed, chanting "Mac and Cheese. Mac and Cheese good for me." Ameoba Boy is just staring at the blank white wall as though it's the most interesting thing in the world...)  
Max: Yes, Sir. Send that paddywagon over as soon as is humanly possible.  
Christopher: Did I just hear a semi's horn honk?  
Psycho: Dear God, oh no.  
(The three rush into the living room. The front door is open, and the room empty {Except for Ameoba Boy, who is watching a small ant crawl across the wall animatedly}.)  
Raye (Yelling outside): Get him out of the seat, Ms. Sinic!  
(Psycho, Max, and Christopher rush to the front door. A giant Mac 'N Cheeze delivery truck is parked at the curb. The driver is unconscious and being dropped on the sidewalk by Ms. Sinic. Raye, waving a broomstick about wildly, is climbing into the driver's seat.)  
Psycho & Christopher & Max: RAYE! MS. SINIC! NOOOOOOOO!!!!!  
(Raye, laughing maniacally, slams the driver's door shut. Ms. Sinic climbs in beside her. Running and taking flying leaps, Christopher, Max, and Psycho manage to climb in as well. Cartwheeling out of the now empty house, Ameoba Boy vaults in.)  
Ms. Sinic: Hit the gas, Ange!!!  
(Raye promptly slams down on the gas and the Gang and Mac 'N Cheeze truck go carreening off down the street wildly.)  
Christopher (turning pale green and looking sick to his stomach): Lord, give me strength.....  
Max: Wait a minute! Hit the breaks! Isn't that Li and Sakura?!?!  
(Raye hits the breaks and Ms. Sinic throws open the door. The anime couple, standing frozen on the sidewalk in terror, are pulled inside by Ms. Sinic. The door slams shut again, and THEY'RE OFF!!!)  
Max: You both are COMPLETE psychos!!!!  
Psycho: Hey!  
Max: Sorry. But just WHAT are we going to do now?!!? You've beaten someone unconscious with a broomstick, and we've just hyjacked a Mac 'N Cheeze truck!!! What're we going to do NOW?!?  
Raye (Pausing in her maniac laughter): You don't have to come, Max!  
Max: Yes I do! Otherwise, who'll keep you two from going on a crime spree?!!?!?!  
Ms. Sinic: Well, the plan is to make it to the Mexican border in two days! Then we're home free!!!  
(Three sweatsdrop)  
Max: My friends ARE wak.  
Ameoba Boy: Hey, Raye! You drive like a deranged howler monkey!! {*o*}   



	9. Chapter Nine: First Dates

  
Sakura in Paris 2  
Part Nine: First Dates  
  
(Max is on a pay-phone at a grungy gas station in Kansas.)  
Max (Yelling over the static): No, Mom! No! Gimpy did not get run over! No, Mom, n-, Mom, stop crying! Our dog didn't die! Forest Gimp did not die! No! I'm going on a trip to Mexico!!! MEXICO!  
(Hangs up the phone angrily)  
Max: RAYE! MS. SINIC! C'MON!!  
Raye & Ms. Sinic: Coming!  
(The two rush out of the gas-station with five milk jugs, three butter-tubs, bag after bag of ice-packs, candy, and paper plates, and a small stove. Ameoba Boy stumbles out minutes later with a gigantic case of water tied to his back, making his legs shake under the weight.)  
Max (calmly as they load the stuff up): And what'n the Hell is all of this crap?  
Raye: Well, if you want mac 'n cheeze, ya gotta have water to make it with. And milk and butter.  
Ms. Sinic: And plates to eat off of.  
Raye: And candy for dessert!  
Max: And just how much did this all cost?  
Raye: Oh, I'm not sure. We just used your Mom's credit card for everything and the gas.  
Max: WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?  
Raye: Well, we're all set! Everybody get in!  
Ms. Sinic (as she helps a stunned Max in): Where's Christopher and Psycho?  
Raye: Chris had to go use the little boy's room, and Psycho ran off into that field over there.  
Ms. Sinic: C'MON GUYS!! WE'RE LEAVING!!  
(Christopher and Psycho come running.)  
Ms. Sinic: Now where's Sakura and Li?  
Max: They're in the back making out.  
(Li and Sakura poke heads out of the truck. Their hair's everywhere.)  
Li & Sakura: WE ARE NOT MAKING OUT!  
Max (sarcastically): Oh? Then what DO you call it? Eating each other's faces?  
(Li and Sakura turn tomato red.)  
Li: We'll just get back in now.  
Sakura: And keep our mouths shut.  
Raye (In the driver's seat): We're off then!  
(Two giant doors slam shut and the back of the truck slides down.)  
Everyone: WE'RE ON OUR WAY TO MEXICO!!!  
Max: And freedom hopefully. Do you think the Mexican government still uses the death penalty for stealing?  
  
{Disclaimer}  
Friends. Cardcaptors. Anime. The Mummy. Brendon Fraser. Zorro. Dark Angel. Logan. Hugh Jackman.  
This is just a small list of the things I love most in life, and the things I can't live without.  
And yet, of all of these things, I don't own a one of them.  
Nope.  
I can't survive without any of them, but I can't claim ownership.  
Life sux, don't it?  
  
  
"Madison, I hope you don't get mad at me for asking, but is Shawn all right?" Sakura asked that night.  
Madison was drying her hair with a large fluffy white towel, so her reply was quite muffled. "Yeah, Sakura. It was only a thunderstorm."  
"No, Madison. I mean all right in the head."  
Madison dropped her towel and glared at her friend. "And just what gives you the idea that he isn't?!"  
Sakura raised her hands in appeasement. "Calm down, Madison! It's just that back in the Maze.....He wasn't acting normal."  
"What do you mean?"  
"Well, you said that he knew what you were thinking, and he had all of those mood swings. And then there was that shadow he kept yelling about."  
"Shawn is a perfectly normal boy! I don't question if Li's all there in the head! Shawn's just had a rough past. Maybe that kind of stuff's haunting him so he acts strange sometimes. At least he's always sweet and shy!"  
"Calm down, Madison! I'm sorry I ever brought it up!  
  
"Shawn? Are you in there?" Li called through the bedroom door.  
"What is it?" Shawn asked grumpily.  
"Can I come in? It's Li."  
There was a lengthy pause before Li could hear the faint "Come in."  
Li opened the door and stepped into the brightly-lit room. Shawn was busy shoving a tattered book into his ragged bookbag. "What do you want?"  
"I wanted to ask you something for Madison."  
Shawn looked up, suddenly interested. "What?"  
"She wants to know if you'd like to go out to lunch tomorrow, at a little cafe` called Gennetel. Would you like to go?"  
Shawn debated for a moment in silence, then nodded. "I'd like that."  
  
"WHAT?!?!? WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M GOING TO LUNCH WITH SHAWN?!?!" Madison screamed at Sakura the next morning before breakfast.  
Sakura blinked to focus her eyes. "I mean just what I said! Li asked Shawn if he'd like to go out with you for lunch today and he said yes."  
"AND JUST WHY DIDN'T YOU INFORM ME ABOUT THIS EARLIER?!?!"  
Sakura blinked again. "I wanted it to be a surprise?"  
"Well congratulations. I'm surprised." Madison huffed angrily as she stormed into the bathroom and slammed the door in Sakura's face.  
"Are you going to be stubborn and refuse to go?!?!" Sakura shouted through the door.  
Opening the door the smallest crack, Madison glared out at her flustered friend. "Of course not! Do you think I'm Meilin or something? Of course I'll go out to lunch with Shawn."  
And with that, Madison slammed the door shut again.  
"THEN WHY DID YOU HAVE TO YELL AT ME IF YOU WANTED TO GO IN THE FIRST PLACE?!?!?!?!?"  
  
Shawn squirmed nervously in his seat. This place was too fancy for him. Madison sat across from him, wearing a simple white dress and bow. Her gloved hands folded primly in her lap, she looked the perfect picture of an elegant lady. Shawn on the other hand, was very uncomfortable in his black suit, which Jacque and Ranea had picked out just hours earlier for him.  
"What's taking the waiter so long?" Shawn asked as he continued to fidget nervously. Madison smiled.  
"He just left, Shawn. They have to cook the food before they bring it to us."  
Shawn grinned embarrassedly, his sweat dropping quite low. "Oh, yeah. Right."  
  
Sakura giggled behind her menu. "Just look at them! Aren't they such a cute couple!"  
Li nodded and turned back around to face his girlfriend. "You know, Sakura, this is our first official date in France; we didn't just come here to watch Madison and Shawn."  
Sakura nodded absently, waving at Li as she glued her eyes to Madison's blushing face. "Sure, dear."  
Li sighed and looked back down at his menu.  
  
  
Max: RAYE! WAKE UP! YOU'RE ABOUT TO RUN OVER THAT POOR DOG!!  
(The brakes of the giant semi screech to a stop as Raye startles awake.)  
Raye: Huh? Whattzat?  
Max: Just look at the poor thing! All alone out here. He looks so lonely. And look! He's limping.  
Raye: The pooch looks fine to me.  
Max: He doesn't to me. I'm gonna go out and see if I can help him.  
Ms. Sinic: Uh, Max?  
Max: Yeah?  
Ms. Sinic: I don't think that's a good idea.....  
Max: And why ever not?  
Ms. Sinic: Well, most dogs don't have fangs that sharp......Or eyes that red.......Or look like wolves....OR START TURNING INTO HUMANS!!!  
Everyone: AHHHHH!!!!! WEREWOLF!!!!!!!!  
(Tires squeal in the Nevada night, and one lone wolf howls mournfully as its prey escapes in a large cloud of menthol dust.....)   



	10. Chapter Ten: Bad Dreams and Sleepwalkers

Sakura in Paris 2  
Part Ten: Bad Dreams and Sleepwalkers  
  
{ A'sN: If you're wondering why we're skipping all over the contiguous U.S., there's a good reason: I don't know my state locations. So basically, we're just hopping from state to state where ever we please. That, and the fact that me and Psycho are still sort of "WANTED" in Georgia, Tennessee, Nebraska, and Arkansas..... (Don't ask. Believe me, ya don't wanna know.)}  
Ms. Sinic (shakily): Are we okay?  
Raye: I think so. We're just a little low on gas now, but we're all okay. Physically anyway.  
Christopher: Is there somebody by the side of the road, or is it just me?  
Raye: There's someone there, Christopher. You can't be going crazy on us. You're the only non-mental one here.  
Li & Sakura: What about us?  
Raye: Sorry. Everyone but Christopher are mental cases.  
Ms. Sinic: Should we stop and pick up whoever that is?  
Raye: What if he's a werewolf?  
Max: What are the chances of there being two in the same state?  
Raye: When it's Nevada you're talking about, pretty damn high.  
Psycho: Let's pick him up! He looks interesting.  
Max: He sure does. Especially with that giant chainsaw and hockey mask of his.  
Raye: What the Hell! I'm stopping!  
Psycho: Come on in, stranger! What's your name and where're ya headed?  
Stranger: The name's Jason. I just escaped the nuthouse prison for slaying 13 people on Friday the 13th. Anywhere out of state's fine with me.  
Psycho: What a coincidence! We're all escapees, too! We just haven't killed anyone. Yet.  
Raye: Welcome aboard! I just know we'll all have lots of fun together!  
(The semi speeds off, its dense occupants and crazy killer singing loudly.)  
Everyone: 99 BOTTLES OF MEDS ON THE WALL! 99 BOTTLES OF MEDS........  
  
{Disclaimer}  
The contents of Raye's purse.....  
One nail file.  
One hairbrush.  
Four tubes of lipstick.  
Three kleenexs.  
One pad of paper and one pencil.  
One note outlining the "Tragic Accidental Deaths of Clamp For Not Letting Me Buy CCS From Them."......  
  
  
Li woke up near one 'o clock, when a loud creak startled him out of a dreamless sleep. Climbing out of bed and tiptoeing to the door, Li opened it a crack and peered out curiously.  
"Sakura?" Li whispered in surprise.  
Sure enough, it was Sakura walking down the dark hall, eyes wide open and her pace slow and measured.  
What's she doing? Li wondered as he followed her down the stairs.  
Sakura continued on through the mansion, passing the parlor, and ignoring the quietly sniggering Kero who was presently robbing the kitchen of its chocolate stores.  
Without even pausing for a moment, Sakura continued on, out of the mansion and into the Garden.  
As Li shut the sliding glass doors behind him, Sakura stumbled on the cobblestone pathway, stubbing her toe.  
"Ow!" Sakura said in surprise as she sat down roughly on her knees. She looked around in surprise as she realized where she was.  
"What am I doing out in the Garden?" Sakura asked aloud.  
"That's what I was wondering." Li said as he helped her up. "You just started walking through the house."  
"Huh. I don't remember getting up and walking around." Sakura said in a perplexed way.  
"You must have been sleepwalking then."  
Sakura shrugged. "Oh well. Let's go back inside."  
  
An hour later, Sakura was up and moving again. This time, she walked straight into Li's room, much to his surprise.  
Without a noise, Sakura curled up onto the large bed beside the stunned-into-silence Li, and promptly fell asleep.   
With a sigh, Li grabbed a pillow and went downstairs, prepared to spend a sleepless night on the long sofa in the parlor.  
  
Madison woke during the night to discover Sakura was gone. Sighing, she rolled over and tried to fall asleep again, her mind too sleepy to wonder where the girl was. But for some strange reason, Madison couldn't fall asleep again.  
About an hour after trying to sleep with no success in sight, Madison got out of bed and left the room, deciding to go downstairs and see if Cooky or Jacque was awake yet.  
After startling a gooey chocolate-encrusted Kero in the kitchen (prompting him to drop a squashy, half-eaten bar of chocolate on the newly-mopped tiles) and discovering that everyone was deep in La La Land, Madison headed back upstairs to try one more bid for rest.   
But as she reached the summit of the staircase, she heard a faint cry for help. Hurrying down the hall opposite hers, Madison struggled to locate the room the cries were coming from.  
Room 114. Wait a minute! Isn't this Shawn's room? Madison thought inwardly as she rapped quietly on the door.  
"Shawn? Is everything okay?"  
When no one answered her, Madison opened the door tentively. The drapes, which were normally closed in the night, were thrown wide open, and one of the balcony windows was open. Huddled on his bed and wrapped with several blankets, Shawn sat shivering, his eyes wide in terrror.  
"Leave me alone! Get away from me! You can't take me again!!"  
"Shawn!" Madison whispered loudly as she went to his bedside.   
Still shivering violently, Shawn turned his fear-glazed green eyes on her in surprise. "Kanthel! What are you doing here?"  
In the dim moonlight, Shawn looked different somehow. Strangely older, and his eyes were darker, more pain-filled.  
"Shawn, it's Madison."  
With a sudden shake, the fear left Shawn's eyes and he looked the same as always, only more forlorn and lonely. "Madison?"  
"Yes. Madison."  
"What happened?" Shawn whispered softly, some of the fear returning to his eyes.  
"I'm not sure. I think you were having a bad dream."  
Shawn shuddered fearfully. "It was the shadow again. It was trying to take me again."  
"What shadow?" Madison asked softly as she pulled a small chair to the bed and sat down.  
"The clawed one, with the soul-less red eyes. It was trying to take me back."  
"Back where, Shawn?" Madison said comfortingly as Shawn started to relax.  
"Back to Frainria."  
  
  
Oooh! Mystery and suspense! What'll happen next? Who is Shawn really? What is Frainria?  
Max: Shut up and drive.  
Raye: Where's Ms. Sinic, Li, and Sakura?  
Max: In the back, making even more mac 'n cheeze. (Begins fake gagging.) I don't see how you guys can eat that gunk every day after day.  
Raye: You have to be a true cheeseiziod to love it as much as Ms. Heaven Sinic and I.  
(Meanwhile, in the back of the truck...)  
Jason: C'mere kiddy kiddies!  
(Ms. Sinic, Li, and Sakura are squeezed up in the corner, watching in fear as Jason advances with his chainsaw squealing loudly. The killer laughs maniacally as he steps forward.)  
Sakura: Why can't the others hear us?  
Ms. Sinic: I'm not sure!!  
(In the front of the truck, Raye and the others are singing along to the Sailor Moon tape blaring in the tape-deck at about 50 notch....)  
Raye (singing along with the tape): IT'S THE POWER OF LOOOOOOOOOVE!!!!  
Max: Is this Hell, or is it just me?  
Ms. Sinic & Sakura & Li: HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!   



	11. Chapter Eleven: Accusations

  
Sakura in Paris 2  
Part Eleven: Accusations  
  
Well, we're out of gas, and for some strange reason, I can't find Jason anywhere. We're at a gas station for the moment, and Li and Sakura are calling someone on the pay phone and everyone else is inside buying munchies! {Yay! Munchies rock!}  
Sakura: Officers, we don't know where he went, but Jason, the infamous killer, is stalking us! That's right! Where are we? Umm....Li, go find out where we are!  
Li: Sakura! Men can't go and ask for directions! It's a Golden Rule!  
(Sakura gives him The Look)  
Li: Yes, dear!  
(Scuttles inside and re-emerges seconds later)  
Li: We're in Texas, a half of a mile away from the the Mexican border!  
Sakura: Did you get that, officer? Yes! We'll stay right here! Just look for the giant Mac and Cheese truck-  
(A sudden KA-BOOOOOM!!!! blasts the gas station as the truck explodes. Sakura calmly looks down at the phone as everyone comes running out of the store)  
Sakura: Officer? Forget about the cheese truck. We'll be walking along I-95.  
Raye: What in the Hell just happened?!? (Begins picking burning macaroni from her hair.)  
Psycho: Oh, look! Jason's dancing around the burning truck with a gas can!!!  
  
  
{Disclaimer}   
CCS is the best! CCS is the best!  
Clamp owns it! Clamp owns it!  
I do not! I do not!  
(Just a mocking disclaimer against cheerleaders.) *(^-^)*  
  
  
The next morning, Madison, Shawn, and Li all looked as though they hadn't any sleep. Which they really hadn't.  
"My, my! Such sleepy faces!" Grannie Marie exclaimed the next morning after the three in question nearly fell face-first into their cereal.  
Ranea suddenly came rushing down the stairs, upset and angry for some unknown reason.  
"Ranea? What is the matter?" Jacque asked as Ranea slumped into her chair hopelessly.   
"My watch! I can't find my watch!"  
"The silver one?" Sakura asked. "Isn't that the one your father gave to you before he died?"  
Ranea nodded miserably, on the verge of tears. "The very one. The only thing I've got that reminds me of Papa`."  
"Don't worry, Ranea! I'm sure it's around here somewhere. We'll help you look for it!" Madison offered kindly.   
Ranea sniffed loudly and smiled. "Thank you, Chere`. That is very kind of you."  
  
Nearly three hours later, and the watch was nowhere to be found. Everyone had searched the mansion from cellar to attic, but there wasn't a sign of the missing item. No one had seen it and they were starting to run out of ideas of where to look.  
"It is 'opeless! It is gone for good!" Ranea cried, dropping down on the swing in the Garden with a bone-jarring thump.  
While Sakura comforted the distraught girl, Li and Madison wondered where the watch could be.  
"Do you think someone stole it?" Li asked quietly. Madison shrugged.  
"Maybe. But Ranea's always got that watch on, and she would have told us if she lost it last night."  
"Ranea? Did you have your watch before you went to bed?" Li asked.  
Ranea sniffled loudly. "Yes! I always wear it! I never take it off!"  
"Hmmm. Where could it have gone then?"  
The back glass door suddenly slid open, and a disheveled Shawn appeared, dusty and sooty.  
"Well, as a last resort, I looked in the chimney and oven. It wasn't there."  
Ranea broke into even more sobs, tears pouring from her eyes, leaving Shawn feeling guilty.  
"I'm sorry, Ranea." Shawn murmured, coughing and brushing soot from himself in large clouds.  
"Where could it be!?!?" Ranea wailed.  
"Ranea! We've found it!!" Jean called down from a fourth floor balcony. "Come on up!"  
Ranea rushed up the stairs so quickly, the others were left behind in a cloud of black dust. "Where is it, Jean!?! Let me 'ave my watch!!"  
  
"My watch!!!" Ranea cried in relief, grabbing the object of concern from Jean's hands and strapping it back on over her wrist. "Where was it?"  
"It was on Shawn's dresser." Jean said in a suspicious tone. "The real question is, why was it there?"  
"Shawn?" Madison asked, turning to stare in disbelief at the stunned boy in the doorway.  
Shawn was at a loss of words. "I....I....I don't know how it got there!"  
"Really? Is that so?" Jean said in a sarcastic tone. "You're a thief! A thief plain and simple!"  
"No! I didn't take it! I've no clue as to how it got there!" Shawn argued vehemently, stepping back a pace from the advancing Jean.  
"Admit that you stole it! There's no use in lying about it!" Jean demanded.  
Madison stepped in between the two boys and crossed her arms. "Hold it right there, Jean. You've no proof that Shawn stole the watch."  
"It was in 'is room! On 'is dresser! What more proof do you need?!" Jean exclaimed angrily.  
"Plenty more than that. For all we know, someone else could have put it there. Or maybe it fell off Ranea's wrist when she was cleaning in here yesterday and one of the part-time maids found it and put it there. Ranea wouldn't have realized it was missing until today, when she had to come down and help make breakfast at six." Madison reasoned calmly.   
Jean calmed down visibly. "Fine. Those things could 'ave 'appened." As he walked out of the room and past Shawn, he glared angrily at the stunned boy.  
"But I still think you're guilty."  
"Shawn? Do you swear you didn't steal the watch?" Grannie Marie said calmly. "Please tell me the truth."  
"I swear I didn't take it, Mrs. Marie." Shawn said honestly, his green eyes candid.  
Grannie Marie smiled and nodded. "I believe you, Shawn. Madison is right. It was probably just an accident that it got into your room."  
The others left, leaving Shawn and Madison alone.  
"You stood up for me, Madison. And you don't even know me that well either." Shawn said with a grin. "Thank you. That was a very nice thing for you to do."  
"I knew you hadn't stolen it, Shawn. And I didn't want you to get fired just because Jean has a bad temper. You're too nice to get fired."  
Shawn grinned and blushed. "Thanks, Madison."  
As Madison turned to leave, she stopped in the doorway and looked back at Shawn.  
"Shawn?"  
"Yes?"  
"About last night? Are you okay now?"  
"Yeah. I'm fine now. Thanks."  
"That's good. Well, see you later."   
As the door closed behind Madison, Shawn shivered at the memory of last night.  
It couldn't have just been a nightmare. That shadow was too real-looking to just be part of a nightmare. And why did I think Madison was someone named Kanthel after I woke up?  
  
  
Tick-tock-Tick-tock. Your time left to decide what'n the Hell's going on with Shawn is dwindling away...  
Max: Why oh why did my friends have to be so wak? I mean, I could have had normal friends. Then I wouldn't be trudging out through Texan deserts without any money or transportation.  
Raye: Aww, quit yer whining! It's not as bad as it could be!  
Max (sarcastically): Oh? And just how much worst could it get?  
Ms. Sinic: Well, look on the bright side of things! At least you're not dead!  
Max (snidely and under her breath): That would be an improvement.  
Raye: I NEVER WANT TO HEAR YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT AGAIN, MAX!!  
Christopher: Guys, I'm starting to see things. That isn't very good.  
Psycho: What are you seeing?  
Christopher: Well, for example, those rocks over there? They look like my couch with my baby brother Gabe standing on it.  
Psycho: That isn't as bad as it could be.   
Christopher: Really?  
Psycho: Sure! It could look like a rabid mongoose.  
(Everyone looks strangely at Psycho, whose sweat is dropping ever so slowly.)  
Psyho: Isn't everyone afraid of rabid mongooses?  
Max: I.....Think......Not.  
Raye: I KNOW not.  
Li: Isn't that a barbed-wire fence I see up ahead? Or is that just a mirage?  
Sakura: It IS a barbed-wire fence! And there's a sign too!  
(Everyone runs up. Max reads it aloud in Spanish. Everyone looks at her.)  
Everyone: HUH?!?!  
Max: My language classes at the HS are coming in handy!  
Raye: Read it in English, Ms. Einstein.  
Max: Welcome to Mexico if you have permits. If not, GET THE HELL AWAY FROM OUR COUNTRY YOU B*ST*RDS!!  
Christopher: Well, they are direct in this country.  
Raye: I'll say.   



	12. Chapter Twelve: Anxieties

  
Sakura In Paris 2  
Part Twelve: Anxieties   
  
We're camping out just inches away from the Mexican border. Why? Because a 25 mile long and two feet thick barbed-wire fence is between us and freedom.  
Raye (playing a harmonica): I've got the inches-away-from-Mexico Blues!  
Max: Shaddup! Some people are tyin' to get some sleep!  
Ameoba Boy: Yeah! Well, except for Li and Sakura. They're busy making out.  
Li and Sakura (from inside their tent): Hey!  
Christopher: Ange?  
Raye: Yes?  
Christopher: What do cobras look like?  
Raye: Black snakes with hoods.  
Christopher: Oh, good. This snake in front of me is brown and has a rattle.  
Raye: CHRISTOPHER! IT'S A RATTLESNAKE!!!  
  
  
{Disclaimer}  
While I'm trying my bit at snake charming, enjoy the next fic part, even though I don't own Cardcaptors' characters. Hey! Maybe I should be the Pied Piper and try to lead some poisonous snakes to Clamp and order them to sell CCS to me!  
It could work.  
In my dreams, at least.  
  
  
Sakura knocked at Li's door. "Li! Wake up! I need to talk with you!"  
Li opened the door and blinked blearily at his girlfriend, standing in the darkened hall in her pink fluffy robe. He yawned and scratched his head sleepily. "What is it?"  
Sakura pushed him in the room and entered herself, shutting the door quickly behind her.  
"Wait just a moment! I demand to know what you're doing in here at one in the morning!" Li said in a huffy way as he sat on the bed and yawned again, shading his eyes as Sakura turned on the small bedside lamp.  
"I want to talk to you about Madison and Shawn."  
"Why? What about them? Is there something wrong?" Li asked apprehensively as he noticed the worried expression on Sakura's usually cheerful face.  
"Madison's been telling me some things about Shawn that aren't adding up."  
"What?"  
"She told me tonight that the night after we went through the maze, she was walking around the mansion when she heard Shawn crying out. When she went to see what was the matter, Shawn seemed to recognize her, but he called her Kanthel. She said he looked different somehow, older and frightened. And he was moaning something about that shadow that he was sure was following us in the Maze."  
"Shawn's a nice boy; I don't think he's a few fries short of a Happy Meal, if that's what you're thinking. He's just had a bad past is all."  
"That's exactly what Madison told me. But lately, I've been sensing something about Shawn that I can't quite place." Sakura mused as she sat beside Li.  
Li studied her for a moment in silence. "Magic?"  
"I'm not really sure. Just something strange. I don't think I've ever sensed this before. And Madison also told me that in the maze, before I came for them, Shawn was able to read her thoughts!"  
"Really?" Li asked, surprised. "Maybe you're right. It does sound like there's something more to Shawn than meets the eye."  
"Madison was about to let slip about the Freeze Card, and she stopped herself before she could. But Shawn still knew what she was about to say, and not only that, he knew she was thinking about me when she said it!"  
"Do you sense anything dangerous about Shawn?" Li asked. "If you do, it may not be wise to let him and Madison be together so much."  
"That's another thing! Despite everything peculiar about him, and everything that has me on edge about him, I don't sense any danger from him! In fact, he and Madison just feel right together." Sakura paused for a moment, confused. "I can't really describe it, but it's like they're meant to be together."  
Li frowned. "So what are you so worried about?"  
"Even though Shawn seems perfectly nice and safe, there's something, something very close to him, that I'm not so easy around. It's something clearly evil, with dark intentions. I'm sure of it!"  
"But it's not a part of Shawn?" Li questioned in a perplexed way.  
"No! But it seems to float around him all the time. Sometimes it's very faint, like it's fading away, but then it returns as strong as ever."  
"The shadow that Shawn's always bringing up?"  
"I don't know." Sakura said in a hopeless way. "I can never see anything, but I can always sense it."  
"You said there was something strange about Shawn. Maybe he's the only one that can see it."  
"I'm worried about Madison, Li. The closer she and Shawn get, the stronger the thing gets. And it's as if . . . As if it's one purpose is to destroy them!"  
  
  
Oooooooh! Suspense!  
Raye: DIE! DIE! DIE!  
(Max and the others look on, their sweatsdropping very low.)  
Max: Raye?  
Raye: What?  
Max: Are you done beating that garden hose to death with your stick of wood?  
Raye: What? (Looks down at the rumpled and dusty piece of green garden hose) Where did the rattlesnake go?  
Max: It slithered away about an hour ago.  
Raye (grinning nervously): Oh . . . .  
Ms. Sinic: Guys, I need some help!  
Raye & Max: With what?  
Ms. Sinic: I have to fix my shack! The roof fell down!  
Psycho: I'm just wondering, who's bright idea was it to make a Hooverville on the Mexican border?  
Raye: Mine. I mean, there was plenty of scrap metal and the remains of the Mac 'N Cheeze truck gave us enough building materials.  
(Everyone's sweatdrops.)  
Everyone: My friends are wak!  



	13. Chapter Thirteen: Discoveries

Sakura in Paris 2   
Part Thirteen: Discoveries   
  
We're sitting out in front of a large bonfire made mostly from my old fics, eating roasted snakes and fried macaroni.   
Max: Blech! This is totally disgusting!   
Raye: It's better than broiled shoes and hamburgers made of plywood.   
(Everyone starts snickering and Max gives Raye one of the dirtiest looks possible)   
Ameoba Boy: Hey, Fluffy! Are there still some splinters in your tongue?   
(Everyone begins laughing. {A'sN: If you don't already know why and want to know, get off your lazy bum and read SIP1!}.)   
Ms. Sinic: This fire's nice and warm though. Where'd ya get the firewood, Ange?   
Raye (nonchalantly): Oh, I just chucked in some crappy old fics of mine. Makes a pretty good blaze, don't they?   
Ms. Sinic: WHAT?!?!? I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO NOT DESTROY ANY OF YOUR HARD WORK!!!   
Raye: I may have worked hard on them, but they're all crappy faliures.   
Ms. Sinic: THEY ARE NOT!!!   
(Picks up an old sharpened garden hoe of Chucky's that was laying by Psycho.)   
Psycho: Hey! That's mine! Chucky gave me that last year for my birthday!   
(Ms. Sinic ignores the Zellers escapee and begins to chase Raye.)   
Ms. Sinic: ADMIT THAT YOUR STUFF IS GOOD, OR I'LL KILL YOU!!!   
Raye: Don't I have such great, supportive, non-violent friends?   
  
  
{Disclaimer}   
If anyone thinks that watching an apple browning is more fun than reading my fics, I order you to leave now and save yourself some time.   
Ms. Sinic: ADMIT YOUR FICS ARE GOOD!   
Raye: But I didn't even create the characters!   
Ms. Sinic: WHAT ABOUT SHAWN?! AND GRANNIE MARIE, AND JACQUE, AND JEAN, AND RANEA?!?!?   
Raye: But not Sakura and Li and Kero!   
Ms. Sinic: I DON'T GIVE A FLYING DUTCHMAN!! YOUR FICS ARE STILL GOOD!!   
Raye: Whatever!   
Ms. Sinic: I WILL KILL YOU!!!!!!   
  
  
Madison sat in the rocking swing in the Garden, staring aimlessly up at the starry sky.   
"Madison? Is something wrong?" Shawn asked quietly as he walked up.   
"No, not really." Madison sighed and moved over so Shawn could sit down.   
"Not really? What is it?" Shawn asked.   
Madison sighed again. "You know, I'm not really sure myself. I just feel down in the dumps for some reason."   
Shawn looked up at the stars. "I know what you mean. Sometimes I feel the same way."   
Madison nodded. "I guess everyone does sometimes." She looked over at Shawn. "Shawn, I was wondering, has this shadow you've been seeing . . . has it been around you long? When was the first time you saw it?"   
Shawn studied her for a minute. "Do you think I'm just imagining it? That I'm crazy and that it's all in my head? Most people do."   
"No, I don't think it's just in your imagination. I think it's real. I was just wondering."   
"Well, I think I've always seen it. I was probably four or five the first time I saw it."   
"Has it ever talked to you before?"   
"Once. When I was ten or eleven. I was just about to fall asleep, when it came into my room. It floated over to my dresser, and it seemed like it was looking for something. I don't think it realized I wasn't asleep. When I sat up, it spun around and hissed at me, its horrible red eyes glaring at me. And then it spoke." Shawn shuddered. "Its voice was so terrible, dry and menacing."   
"What did it say?"   
"It doesn't make any sense to me, but for some strange reason, I've never forgotten what it said. It glared at me for a moment, and then it said, "You'll never find Kanthel if I have anything to say about it! And you'll never give her the locket!"."   
"Kanthel?" Madison mused aloud. She jumped. "You called me Kanthel that night you had the bad nightmares!"   
Shawn nodded slowly, confusion clear on his face. "I remember that, and I actually thought you were someone named Kanthel. But I'm sure I've never met or known anyone named Kanthel in my entire life!"   
Shawn looked down at the ground, forlorn and the perfect picture of dejectedness. He sighed. "I'm scared, Madison. And I don't know why! I don't feel at all like myself."   
Madison rested a gentle hand on Shawn's shaking arm, edging closer to him hesitantly.   
"Shawn, it'll be okay. This'll all pass soon."   
"But I'm not so sure of that, Madison. Every day that passes, I feel even more strange. I don't know what's happening to me, Madison!"   
"It'll be okay, Shawn." Madison whispered, clasping his right hand in hers. "Everything'll be okay."   
Shawn smiled tentively, looking up to Madison gratefully. "Thanks, Madison."   
"If you want or need anything, Shawn, just tell me."   
Shawn neared closer. "Anything?"   
Madison nodded breathlessly. "Anything."   
As their lips touched, Madison gasped. It felt like static electricity was coursing through her body. Shawn's fingers entertwined with hers, and she smiled inwardly. She'd never felt like this before. It was the most wonderful experience she had ever had!   
As they reluctantly pulled away from each other, Shawn smiled widely.   
"You didn't mind, did you?"   
Madison shook her head with an even bigger grin. "Mind?" Her voice was extremely incredulous. "I've never felt anything like it!"   
"Me neither." Shawn smiled.   
"It's late. We should be going in soon. Ranea and the others'll realize we're still out."   
Shawn nodded reluctantly, sighed, and stood. He held out a hand for Madison, which she happily took. "Why thank you, monsueir. How very kind of you."   
Shawn laughed. "Right this way, madamoiselle."   
As the two walked up the path, towards the darkened house, Madison began to feel an uneasiness. Moments before, the night had been tranquil and peaceful, full of complete serenity. But as they neared the looming mansion, dread feelings began to permeate the darkness.   
Shawn stopped in his tracks, Madison halting slightly behind him in the exact moment. "There's something out there."   
Madison gulped nervously, edging closer to Shawn. "What is it?"   
Shawn stepped back slightly, taking Madison's shaking hand in his own trembling hand. "It's the shadow. It's the shadow. It's coming."   
Madison gasped. There was a shadow! It crouched ahead of them, blocking their way into the silent mansion. Blood-red eyes, filled with malice and hatred, glared at the shivering couple, large, midnight black claws scraping hideously against the stone pathway, leaving black furrows as it crawled forward.   
"You may have found Kanthel, Nicolus, but I shall have my way in the end!" the shadow's siblant hiss froze the blood in Madison's veins. She knew now why Shawn was so terrified by this creature. She felt as though her bones were made of jello; she couldn't move, even in the face of this horrible thing.   
The shadow hissed, low and menacingly, and hopped forward a pace, crouched crab-like on the ground, preparing to pounce-   
  
  
(The Hooverville the Gang is currently living in is quite spread out now, consisting of several shacks and lean-to's, as well as two or three tents they managed to salvage from the Mac 'N Cheeze truck following the explosion. The Gang has gotten it decorated to their liking, and are now racking their brains for a way across the border through the large barbed-wire fence.)   
Raye: Well, does anyone have any gardening shears?   
(Everyone gives her a strange look.)   
Li: Gardening shears? Who in their right mind keeps gardening shears with them?   
Psycho: I may have a pair in my purse! I'll just go look!   
(Runs off humming happily.)   
Li: I made my point. I asked if anyone in their RIGHT mind carried gardening shears around. Not if anyone with Psycho's mind carries them around.   
Psycho (from inside her shack): Nope! I must have left them at home with my extra Korn CD.   
Sakura: Extra CD?   
Psycho: I've got three.   
(Everyone's sweatdrops.)   
Max: I'm gonna go take a nap. Can I sleep in your shack, Raye?   
Raye: Sure, but why don't you just use yours?   
Max: I couldn't get any sleep in there. The walls are coated with posters and pictures of my lickety-boo Logan. Who could fall asleep with so many handsomely green eyes staring down at you?   
Raye: You can use the shack, but if you touch even one thing of mine, you'll be shipped home to Mama in pieces!   
Max (mock saluting): Yessum!   
(Max grabs her sleeping bag and shuts Raye's door behind her. Lining the walls of Raye's shack are anime posters. Dolls from various shows and mangas litter the floor. On crude shelves Raye made herself sit beanie babies and several hundred tapes {A'sN: A terrible habit of mine is to tape everything humanly possible. Tv shows, movies, music videos, commercials, infomercials, nothing's safe from my recording button.}. Max settles into her sleeping bag and tries to fall asleep. Nearly an hour later, she's awaken from a deep sleep filled with sexy Logans by a high-pitched, very annoying voice. At first, she thinks it's Ameoba Boy, but then she decides that it's too low in pitch to be his voice. She sits up and blinks blearily.)   
Max: Who's there?   
Eerie Voices: We're he-re!   
Max: AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! 


	14. Chapter Fourteen: The Past Comes Alive

Sakura in Paris 2   
Part Fourteen: The Past Comes Alive   
  
(Everyone but Max is still around the campfire, talking of ways to get through the fence.)   
Raye: We could use Ameoba Boy's head as a battering ram.   
Ameoba Boy: Hey!   
(Everyone ignores him.)   
Psycho: I don't think that'd work. We'd probably just succeed in bashing his head in.   
Raye: All the more reason to do it.   
(Everyong gives her The Look. She sighs.)   
Raye: We could tie springs to Ameoba Boy's feet and bounce him over the fence. He could take a rope with him so we could get over. Or we could . . .   
Li and Chistopher: Is it another plan involving Ameoba Boy putting himself as risk?   
Raye (irrately): Those are the best ones!   
(A sudden scream of panic and fear cut through the silence. Max comes into the clearing, hopping in her sleeping bag, toothpicks sticking in her hair.)   
Max: THOSE HORRID MONSTERS NEARLY POKED MY EYES OUT!!!   
(She collapses before the fire.)   
Raye: What in the hell?   
Max: THE BEANIE BABIES!!! THEY'RE AFTER ME!!! THEY ATTACKED ME WITH TOOTHPICKS!!   
Ms. Sinic: You've been drinking the ditchwater again, haven't you?   
  
  
{Disclaimer}   
Dear Reader,   
As your beloved author of SIP 2, I'd like to inform you, my beloved fans, that I don't own Cardcaptors. Heck, I own practically nothing. Sure, I own Sakura's extended french family, the shadow, and even sweet and shy Shawn, but I don't own anyone else. So don't sue me. I don't even have that much money.   
Raye Firearrows   
  
  
"Wood Card! Release and Dispell!"   
Madison and Shawn were thrown back, landing in a sprawled clump atop of each other, as branches of wood split through the ground, encircling the now screeching shadow in a cage of living wood.   
Shawn sat up, pulling a shivering Madison closer and trying to ignore the high-pitched screams coming from the shadow.   
Sakura rushed up to the two, worry clear on her face. "Are you both okay?"   
"Sakura! I'm so glad you came!" Madison cried, hugging Sakura tightly. "That thing-"   
Sakura nodded. "I knew something with evil intentions was close by. Thank God I found you two in time."   
The shadow suddenly stopped its hideous squealing, snapping the three teenagers' attention back to it.   
"You may have found Kanthel, Nicolus! But you'll never be together!" the shadow hissed, narrowing its eyes.   
"You shouldn't be making threats right now, shadow!" Shawn retorted angrily. "You're the one stuck in that cage!"   
The shadow laughed in a squealing way, long black teeth glistening in the moonlight. "You think you've got me trapped, Nicolus?!? Far from it!! I am as free as the wind, no matter what you do or think!!"   
With a whistling cry, the shadow raised its crooked arms to the sky, melting into a black ribbon of darkness. With a screech, the shadow was gone, leaving the Wood cage completely empty.   
  
"What in the hell is going on?" Li asked later that night. It was nearly one in the morning, and he, Sakura, Shawn, and Madison were all sitting in Sakura and Madison's room, discussing the disturbing reality of the evil shadow. "What is this thing?"   
Shawn shook his head in despair. "I don't know! It's been following me my entire life."   
"Tonight it called you Nicolus, Shawn." Sakura pointed out as Kero floated over to her, deep asleep. This night certainly was one for discoveries; Shawn had finally found out everything about Sakura, Li, and even Kero. And the shadow's arrival was starting to worry them.   
"I don't know why! I've always been called Shawn." Shawn said hopelessly.   
"And it keeps calling me Kanthel." Madison mused. "I want to know what this is all about."   
"Shawn, didn't you say it seems to be interested with you giving Kanthel "the locket"?" Li asked.   
Shawn nodded.   
"Do you know what this locket might be?"   
Shawn sat for a moment, lost in thought. After a few minutes, he looked up. "Well, the only locket I can think of is the gold one I've always had."   
The others leaned closer eagerly. "A gold locket? Could we see it?"   
"It's in my room. I can go get it."   
"I'm coming with you." Li said, standing as Shawn did. "That shadow might still be lurking around."   
The two left, leaving the girls to wait and worry until they returned five minutes later with the locket.   
Shawn handed the golden necklace to Sakura for a close inspection.   
"When did you get this?"   
"I've always had it. It must have been in my family for years."   
Sakura looked to Shawn for permission, then opened the emerald and ruby adorned heart locket. She gasped, dropping the necklace and edging away from it in shock.   
"What is it, Sakura?" Madison and Shawn chorused in panic at the look on Sakura's face.   
"The couple in the picture! They look just like the both of you!" Sakura gasped out. "And when I opened the locket, I felt something powerful coming from it!"   
"Something powerful?" Li asked as he sat beside Sakura and took one of her hands in his.   
"Very powerful. And strange."   
"Evil?"   
"No, not at all. But . . . Very powerful." Sakura was at a loss for words. She turned to Shawn. "Who is the couple in the picture?"   
Shawn shrugged. "I've no idea."   
Sakura hesitantly picked up the locket again. "Can I look at this closer?"   
"Sure."   
Sakura managed to slip a fingernail under the picture and carefully pulled it free from the locket. Taking a deep breath, she turned the black and white photo over.   
Written on the back, in faint, spidery writing, were the names Nicolus Otion and Kanthel Otion, Married 1873.   
The others gasped as Sakura read the names aloud. "Kanthel and Nicolus! Do you think that that shadow thing has me and Shawn mistaken for them?"   
Sakura shook her head. "I don't think so, Madison. Something strange is going on here, something that started over a hundred years ago."   
"So what are you suggesting? That Madison and I are somehow connected to those two? How can you be so sure?"   
"I'm not. Not really. But I know a way I can find out the truth." Sakura pulled out a Card.   
"What Card is that?" Shawn asked eagerly, curious to find out more about the mystical Clow Cards.   
"The Return Card. It'll let me see a glimpse into the past concerning this picture." Sakura took a deep breath. "With everyone's permission, I'm going to try to let the Card's magic include all of us. This way, I won't have to explain everything I see."   
"Are you sure you want to do that, Sakura? That might drain your energy too much." Li asked, concern clouding his amber eyes.   
Sakura smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, Li. I'll be fine. Is it a go?"   
Madison and Shawn nodded resolutely, Sakura took a deep breath, and the Card began to glow as she called out, "Return Card! Show us the past surrounding this picture!"   
The room around the four melted into blackness before being replaced with a cloudy picture wavering in the darkness. The image showed the couple from the picture, Kanthel and Nicolus, laughing beneath a cherry tree. With a flash, the memory of her dream came to Madison. Sakura gasped as she remembered her own dream.   
The couple seemed to be speaking, but none of the onlookers could hear what they were saying. Suddenly, a storm descended upon the two, overcasting the sky and raining sheets of water down on the two. Kanthel cried out, clutching Nicolus's arms as something separated from the storm.   
A large black shadow, already familiar with three of the four silent watchers, advanced on the two, soul-less red eyes glaring happily upon their terror-stricken faces.   
"You've found your soulmate, have you, Nicolus? How happy for you."   
"Garlin! What are you doing here?"   
"I'm here to be with you again, Nicolus. You found me so many years ago; you can't just throw me aside and expect me to sit back and happily watch you go on with your life. You found me to be your friend, Nicolus, but when you got others you just forgot about me! You forgot about me!" the shadow screamed, tears in its fearsome eyes.   
Nicolus shook his head resolutely. "I didn't forget you, Garlin! I tried to send you back to the Otherworld, to Frainria, but you refused. I tried to help you, to send you back home, but you refused! You aren't the same anymore. You were always so nice, but now you scare people and hurt others. I had to get away from you, Garlin. You were getting too dangerous to be friends with!"   
The shadow screamed in pain, anger, and sorrow. "You were my friend! My one true friend! And you turned your back on me! For your other friends, for her!" The shadow pointed a trembling, accusing claw at Kanthel, who sat beside Nicolus, frozen in shock and fear.   
"I had to!"   
"You didn't! You chose to! You chose to leave me alone! You chose to turn your back on me!" the shadow screamed. With a loud roar of thunder echoing in the air, the shadow, Garlin, raised its clawed hands towards the sky.   
"I curse you, Nicolus! Now and forever! No matter what you look like, or how you act, I curse you! For this lifetime and any other! You shall be doomed to be lonely, friendless and forgotten, as I am!"   
Kanthel screamed as the ground began to shake wildly, cracks appearing everywhere with each new shake.   
"I will return to Frainria for now! But I shall return! And when I do, you'll rue the day you ever left me!"   
With a sudden clap of thunder, Sakura and the others were back in their own time, the Return Card lying on the bedspread.   
  
  
I know that that part was longer than most, but I think it was worth it. Hopefully. Is anyone interested on what in the heck's going on with Shawn and everything? Hopefully.   
Max: I'm telling you the truth! I woke up and Raye's beanie babies attacked me with toothpicks!   
Ms. Sinic: You're sure that you haven't been drinking ditchwater?   
Max: YES!!!   
(Psycho suddenly begins screaming from her own shack.)   
Christopher: What now?   
Psycho: The cactuces are coming!! The cactuces are coming!! They're coming!! 


	15. Chapter Fifteen: Effiel Tower Vertigo

Sakura in Paris 2   
Part Fifteen: Eiffel Tower Vertigo   
  
Raye: Rally the troops! To arms! To arms! We're under ATTACK!!   
(The Gang begin to arm themselves and take their defensive postitions. The cactuces Psycho was screaming about are advancing quickly, the foot-troops of the Evil Army. Coming in close behind the cactuces is the Beanie Baby Brigade, led by Fuzzy-Wuzzy the bear.)   
Raye: First volley of stones! AWAY!! *(^0^)*   
(Seven slingshots crack ominously as the volley takes flight, striking down four cactuces.)   
Raye: And, AGAIN!! *(^0^)*   
(Two more cactuces and a tye-dye beanie baby are cut down.)   
Raye: FORWARD TROOPS!! ON TO GLORY AND HONOR!!!   
(The Gang surges over their blockade and run towards the battle, meeting the opposite side in a horrible crunch and crash.)   
Raye: FORWARD!!! ONWARDS!!! SALLY FORTH!!! *(*0*)*   
  
  
{Disclaimer}   
Ms. Sinic: Come on, Ange! Say it!   
Raye: I don't wanna!   
Max: You have to! You don't wanna get sued, do ya?   
Raye (SIGH): Fine! I'll say it! Idon'townCardcaptorsoranyofthecharacters!   
Ms. Sinic: See? It wasn't that hard was it?   
Raye: I'm this close to killing Clamp.   
Max: That's normal. You want to kill everyone.   
  
  
"I don't know what in the heck just happened." Shawn whispered. "But it was amazing!"   
"We do know some things new. The shadow's name is Garlin, and he's from someplace called Frainria." Li pointed out.   
"And the fact that Nicolus had to have had some magic or something close to it to call him from the Otherworld." Sakura mused. "That glimpse from the past reminded me of a dream I had a few weeks ago."   
"A dream? What happened in it?" Madison asked curiously. "I had a dream, too."   
"In mine I was in a park underneath a cherry blossom tree, and everyone was with me. Even Rita and the others from home. And then this boy in a black school uniform showed up, and threw a gold locket to Madison. Madison picked it up and started saying something about soulmates and past lifetimes."   
"In my dream, I was sinking into darkness, and someone rescued me. He was urging me to keep fighting, to not leave him alone. He said I was his soulmate. And then . . ." Madison paused, blushing fiercely.   
"And?" Shawn pried with a mischievous grin.   
"And . . . He kissed me." Madison was a luminous red now. "And then I woke up."   
"Well, what should we do now?" Sakura asked.   
Li spoke up quickly. "I say we should wait, see what the future holds. We can't really do anything now. Just wait and watch out for that shadow."   
The others nodded in agreement.   
"Let's just see what the morning brings."   
  
"Today I've got a trip to the Eiffel Tower planned! 'Ow does that sound to everyone?" Grannie Marie exclaimed the next morning at breakfast.   
Sakura and the others smiled as they tried to hide their yawns. None of them had gotten much sleep the night before. "Sounds great, Grannie."   
"Well, we should get going soon. So 'urry and finish your breakfast."   
  
"Let's go up to the very top!" Sakura exclaimed, rushing ahead of the others and into the empty elevator. It was a squeeze, but everyone managed to clamber in. "Everyone" was Shawn, Madison, Li, Sakura, Ranea, Grannie Marie, Jacque, and Jean. Jean still gave Shawn dirty looks when he didn't think anyone was watching, but he was starting to trust him again.   
As everyone surged out of the elevator, Madison and Shawn detatched themselves from the others and went off to explore alone.   
"I've never been in the Eiffel Tower before, have you, Shawn?" Madison asked as she ran to the railing around the high platform. "This is great! When I go home I can tell Mother all about it!"   
Shawn joined her by the railing and looked down. "It's cool, isn't it? It's so high up."   
There was a flash of movement in the corner of Shawn's eye, but when he turned to look more closer, the movement disappeared. Shrugging it off to his imagination, Shawn turned back to the view and Madison.   
The movement in the corner of his eye returned twice, but each time he looked closer, whatever had made the movement was gone. By the third time, Shawn was starting to get worried. He could sense something powerful nearby, and he was very uneasy about it. There was something familiar about it, and he didn't like it.   
Madison leaned over the edge of the railing. "This is awesome! I love heights!"   
Suddenly, the movement that Shawn had been seeing for the last ten minutes returned, but this time, it didn't disappear. Faster than Shawn's eye could follow, the shadow that had hidden in the corners dashed out.   
"Madison!" Shawn cried, reaching for the girl that leaned over the railing. But before he could reach her, the shadow had pushed her.   
Madison screamed as she fell over the railing. "Shawn!!!!"   
Shawn leaned over the railing and managed to grab Madison's hands. "Hold on!!"   
Madison struggled to stop the screams and tightened her iron grip on Shawn's hands. "Help me!"   
Shawn tried to pull her back over, but knew he wasn't strong enough. The others had disappeared somewhere, and he couldn't let Madison go. It looked as though they were stuck until Sakura or Li happened along.   
A hateful laugh startled Shawn, nearly making him drop Madison in his surprise. "You! Get away from us! Why are you doing this? Why can't you just leave us alone?"   
"But Nicolus, how can I leave my best friend all alone?" the shadow sneered as he leaned over to pry Madison's hands from Shawn's.   
"Stop it!" Shawn cried, tightening his hold on Madison. "Just leave us alone!"   
"I won't, Nicolus! No matter what you do or say, you're still my one and best friend," the shadow doubled his efforts. "And you don't need this girl anymore!"   
"Shawn!!!" Madison screamed as the shadow pulled one hand from his grasp.   
"No!! Madison!!!"   
The shadow sneered at Madison's terrified expression. "Die, Kanthel! Die like you did decades ago!"   
"Don't let me go, Shawn! Don't let me go!" Madison cried fearfully.   
Shawn tightened his hold on Madison's hand and turned to glare at the shadow. "Leave us alone. Leave us alone!"   
The shadow laughed evilly. "I've already told you, Nicolus. I can't leave you alone. I don't want to!"   
Shawn glared angrily at the shadow, feeling his blood begin to boil. "I don't want you to stay! I don't want you to! I want you to leave, to disappear! I want you gone from my life forever! Go away, Garlin!!! Go away!"   
The shadow reeled back as if physically struck, clutching his head in clawed hands. "No, Nicolus! No! You cannot mean that!"   
"I do! I just want you to go AWAY!!!" Shawn cried, feeling a strange power burning inside.   
A sudden crack cut through the air, and the shadow disappeared.   
  
  
So, what do you think just happened? Good or bad? Will Madison be okay?! And just what in the hell is going on with all this Nicolus and Kanthel business?!?!?   
Raye: ANOTHER VOLLEY, TROOPS!! BUT DON'T SHOOT TILL YOU SEE THE WHITES OF THEIR EYES!!! *(^0^)* (Laughing maniacally)   
Max: I didn't know cactuces had eyes.   
Raye: DON'T SHOOT TILL YOU SEE THE NEEDLES IN THEIR SKIN!! There. Good enough for you, Miss Nitpicker?   
Max: Just fine, thank you.   
Raye: ANOTHER VOLLEY!!!! GO!!!!   
(And another three bite the dust.)   
Ameoba Boy: I've been stabbed! I've been stabbed!   
(Begins staggering around with a tiny toothpick stuck in his arm.)   
Ameoba Boy: Oh! The agony! The agony!   
Ms. Sinic & Max & Raye: SISSY! TAKE IT LIKE A MAN!! *(-o-)* 


	16. Chapter Sixteen: The Past's Nightmares

Sakura in Paris 2   
Part Sixteen: The Past's Nightmares   
  
Fuzzy Wuzzy: RETREAT!!! WE MUST RETREAT!! FALL BACK!!! FALL BACK!!!   
Raye (laughing maniacally): HAH HAH YOU SISSIES!!! GO AHEAD AND RUN!! WE CAN TAKE YA ANYTIME!!! *(^0^)*   
Max: Raye?   
Raye: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!! *(^0^)*   
Max: Raye?   
Raye: HAHAHAHAH- *(^0^)*   
(SLAP!)   
Max: RAYE, SHUT THE HELL UP!! [oOo]   
Raye (rubbing at a red, hand-marked cheek): Ow! Why'd ya go and do that?   
Ms. Sinic: She had to knock some sense into you.   
Ameoba Boy: More like slap some sense into you.   
Raye (advancing menacingly): I'd like to slap some sense into YOU.   
Psycho: Who's up for a barbecque?   
Christopher: I'm in! But what are we going to barbecque? Rattlesnakes again?   
Psycho: Beanie Babies!   
(Everyone runs for cover to hurk in peace.)   
Psycho (chewing reflectively): Hmmm. A bit gamey, and it could use some paprika, but over-all very good!   
  
  
{Disclaimer}   
Raye: "Santa Claus is coming . . . to town!"   
Ms. Sinic: What'n the hell?   
Raye (wearing a Santa cap and throwing X-Mas confetti everywhere): Everyone celebrate! It's Christmas!   
Max: Raye, it's July.   
Raye: You guys just don't have the Christmas spirit! Don't you know that Christmas is year-long?   
Ms. Sinic (sarcastically): No, I guess it just skipped my mind. ~/-_-~   
Raye (singing to the tune of "Jingle Bells"): I don't own, I don't own, I don't own CCS!   
  
  
"Nicolus, you may come in now."   
The young man with brown-blonde hair and troubled green eyes stood from the uncomfortable chair he had sat in for the past four hours, his eyes worried and fearful. The doctor standing in the dark doorway sighed and wiped her hands on her faded white apron.   
"She won't survive the night. You have a few hours left together at best."   
Tears filled the sad green eyes. "Isn't there anything you can do?"   
The doctor slowly, ruefully, shook her head. "The disease is like none I've ever seen before. Her life is in God's hands now."   
The wasted and thin figure beneath the patchwork quilt looked nothing like the vibrant woman Nicolus knew so very well.   
Kanthel's head turned towards the doorway as her new husband entered softly. "Nico."   
The soft, resigned voice broke Nicolus's heart. "Kan."   
"Come sit with me until I leave." Kanthel's voice was a husky whisper, tears filled her delicate grey eyes.   
Nicolus fairly collapsed by the death-bed, resting his hands on Kanthel's own whithered ones. The dark black hair that had always had such a sheen and luster to it fell across Kanthel's white face, damp and faded.   
"No, Kanthel. You'll pull through. I don't care what the doctors say. You're strong, you'll pull through." Nicolus knew his voice sounded hollow and empty.   
Kanthel smiled softly. "My days are done, love. I'm sorry to have to leave you so soon, but God wants me Upstairs so badly."   
"Don't talk like that, Kanthel!" Nicolus cried, tears falling silently to the bright quilt.   
"Love, don't feel sorry for me. Go on with your life. We'll meet again Upstairs, after you leave here." Kanthel's voice was soothing and reassuring.   
"I can't bear to lose you." Nicolus whispered.   
"Take this, Nico." Kanthel whispered, her voice fading as quickly as her life.   
Nicolus looked down through his tears at the object his wife pushed into his hands. It was the wedding gift he had given her, the gold locket with their picture in it.   
"Remember me." Kanthel's voice was barely audible.   
"Kan." Nicolus murmured in aguish as his wife's eyes fluttered shut.   
"Goodbye, Nico."   
  
"NO!!!!"   
Shawn bolted up in his bed, tears and sweat mingling together.   
  
"It was another one last night, Madison." Shawn murmured, rubbing at black-circled eyes.   
Madison rested a reassuring hand on the troubled boy's arm. "I'm sure it's just nightmares."   
Shawn shook his head resolutely. "I wish they were. But it's memories from my past, Madison. Ever since that encounter with Garlin at the Eiffel Tower,"   
  
"I do! I just want you to go AWAY!!!" Shawn cried, feeling a strange power burning inside.   
A sudden crack cut through the air, and the shadow disappeared.   
  
"And that strange power surfacing,"   
  
"Shawn! I'm slipping!" Madison screamed.   
A burst of light engulfed the two, blinding and disorienting them. And suddenly, Madison was standing beside Shawn.   
"How did . . .?" Madison asked breathlessly.   
Shawn looked at her in startled amazement. "I'm not sure."   
  
"I've been having them every night. But last night . . ." Shawn trailed off as tears filled his eyes. "It was worse than ever before."   
  
The tears flooded Nicolus as the last breath escaped Kanthel's lips. As the great racking sobs overtook the desolate young man, an evil cackle filled the room.   
"I swore that you'd be lonely, didn't I, Nicolus?"   
"Garlin," Nicolus whispered in pain. "Why would you do this to me?!"   
"I want to make you suffer the same way you made me!"   
Total loneliness and dread filled Nicolus as the cackling voice faded into the distance, leaving him alone in the cold, dark room with his dear wife's body.   
  
  
Boo hoo! Hand me another Kleenex! I'm getting to be a real downer! But don't worry, I hope to get a least a little more cheerful as the story progresses.   
Ms. Sinic: Come and play kickball with us, Raye!   
Raye: Coming!   
(The Gang is playing kickball with a tumbleweed, and the goal is an old tire sitting atop of a large, steep hill that rolls down towards the border fence. Little does anyone know that Max is sleeping inside of the tire.)   
Ameoba Boy: Pass is to me, Sakura!   
(Sakura kicks the tumbleweed to the microorganism, who starts to kick it towards the goal.)   
Raye: Don't let 'im score, Christopher!   
(Christopher dives to intercept the tumbleweed, but Ameoba Boy manages (Somehow) to dodge past him.)   
Ameoba Boy: Boohyah!   
(The paramecium kicks out at the tumbleweed, but accidently misses and kicks the tire goal.)   
Max (waking up): Whaaaat? AHHHHHHH!!!   
(The tire goes rolling down the hill, picking up speed as it goes.)   
Ameoba Boy (as everyone glares angrily at him): oooops...... 


	17. Chapter Seventeen: Kero's Advice

Sakura in Paris 2   
Part Seventeen: Kero's Advice   
  
(The giant black mass of tire-rubber bounded down the hill, bouncing and hopping over small hillocks, its single occupant shrilly screaming herself hoarse.)   
Max: HEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLPPPPPPPPMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEE! [*O*]   
(A large rattlesnake, lying curled in the sun, raises its head curiously as the tire comes bounded towards it. Reacting instinctively, the snake lashes out at the tire and sinks its fangs into the rubber. Unfortunately for the poor reptile, he is dragged along after the tire, going all swirly-eyed as he was beaten flat and unconscious.)   
Ameoba Boy: DON'T WORRY, MAX!!! WE'LL COME SAVE YOU!!!! '*0*'   
Raye (smacking the paramecium upside the head): You stay here shrieking like a dental drill and we'll go and endager ourselves for Max.   
Ameoba Boy: Ow. . . . .   
Max: ITHINKI'MGOINGTOBESICK!!!!!!!! [@O@]   
Ms. Sinic (gasps): Oh no!! Max, look-   
CRASH!!   
Ms. Sinic (weakly): -out. . . .   
Christopher & Li: Well, would you look at that?   
(Max and her tire have crashed through the boundary fence, leaving a large hole in their wake.)   
Raye: FORWARD TO FREEDOM!!! *(^O^)*   
  
  
{Disclaimer}   
Don't own Li, Sakura, Kero, Madison, Tori, and Sakura's Dad.   
Do I have to explain myself anymore?   
I'll gladly open a can o' whoop-ass if you'd like.   
  
  
"If you ask me," Kero said, tapping reflectively at his chin with a stubby arm. "I think this all has to do with past lifetimes and different dimensions."   
"Okay, Kero," Sakura said. "But how are they all connected? How come Nicolus, or Shawn, or whoever! had magic? How could he summon a creature from another dimension? And why couldn't any of us sense his magic?"   
"Hmmm," Kero said thoughtfully, tapping at his forehead now. "Well, it could be like this,   
"Shawn's magic, and therefore Nicolus' magic, is a different type of magic than the type me, you and the Brat are familiar with, so we couldn't sense it merely because it was a new type of magic."   
"But how are they connected and how does Shawn have magic?" Sakura asked exasperatedly.   
"You know," Kero paused for a moment. "Now that I start to think about it, I can faintly remember something. . ."   
"What?!?" Sakura asked eagerly, and much louder than neccessary.   
Kero winced, then rubbed at his ears before speaking again. "If my memory's correct, I can barely remember my Master having an apprentice."   
"An apprentice to Clow Reed?" Sakura asked, puzzled.   
Kero nodded. "He was an all-out faliure as apprentices go; couldn't even master the simplest magic techniques. But my Master kept him on, certain that he had hidden magic within him." Kero shook his head ruefully. "And I suppose my Master was right."   
"Why do you say that?" Sakura asked, leaning closer to the floating Guardian.   
"Well, the apprentice decided to dabble with some of the Master's special spells. He must have thought that if he could master one of the spells, that he would gain some praise from Master." Kero sighed. "Naive boy."   
"Continue." Sakura urged eagerly.   
"Well, he decided that he would try to create a Clow Card. But he lost control of the spell before it was completely finished."   
"What happened to him?" Sakura asked.   
"He was destroyed in a backlash of magic. The Card he had been trying to create escaped, half-made and unfinished. The Master never quite found out what had happened to the creature." Kero frowned. "But there was something else about the half-made Card that was strange."   
"Which was?" Sakura pried.   
"When it was created, the backlash that destroyed the apprentice had to go somewhere, but it just seemed to disappear like the Card. No trace, not even a hint of what had happened to it." Kero sighed. "It was one of the very few mysteries my Master never solved."   
Sakura frowned. "It feels like I'm missing something important, something that's right in front of my face. . ."   
Kero yawned widely, then waved a tiny paw across the room. The high ceiling light and bedside lamp flickered out, leaving moonlight as the only illuminater of the bedroom. Crawling into his sock drawer bed, Kero fought back another yawn.   
"If you want my advice, Sakura, don't worry about things you can't do anything about. Keep your mind focused on the future and protecting yourself and your friends. And be ready for anything," Kero murmured as he drifted off to sleep. "And always expect the   
unexpected. . ."   
  
  
(Max stands dizzy and extremely swirly-eyed just within the Mexican border.)   
Max (slurring and lisping): Grandad, you ran another stop sign . . . [@~@]   
Raye: MAX!!! YOU DID IT!!!! *(^o^)*   
(Everyone gathers around the nearly unconscious girl and begin slapping her on the back.)   
Li: We've made it, Sakura!   
Sakura: I can't wait to get some yummy Mexican food!   
Psycho: Here here! I'm starving!!   
Ms. Sinic: I'll say. I'm so hungry even that tire is looking good.....   
Ameoba Boy: Hey, Max! Did you lose a belt?   
(The microorganisim holds up a rattlesnake belt {I guess we all know what happened to that poor snake that got dragged along for a bumpy ride....}.)   
Max (woozily): I'm a whale, an endangered mammal.... Hug me!!   
Christopher: Uh, no.   
Raye: I agree with Christopher on this one.   
Max (blinking blearily as she falls face-first to the dust): Smell the color nine.... 


	18. Chapter Eighteen: Frainria

Sakura in Paris 2   
Part Eighteen: Frainria   
  
{A'sN: This next part gets pretty gruesome, not to mention "OH NO!! HE CAN'T DO THAT!!" Just thought I'd warn y'all before you get to it. *(^-^)*}   
Raye: So, let me get this straight, we can't go into Mexico yet?   
Christopher: Precisely. The Mexicans have Border Patrols who are on the lookout for anyone trying to sneak into their country. And seeing as how we're wanted, we'd be in an even worse hell.   
Sakura: So, what do we do now?   
Christopher: Well, the only thing I can think of is: we clear our name.   
Ms. Sinic: We hyjacked a Mac 'n Cheeze truck, blew it up, and already broke into Mexico. I'm sure they'll say, "Oh, that's okay. We forgive you. Go ahead, come into our country." Think, Idiot!! They'll arrest us for sure!   
Max (half-unconscious): Not all men are annoying. Some are dead.   
Li: Could someone shut her up? She keeps rambling nonsensical crap.   
Psycho: But Max ALWAYS rambles nonsensical crap. That's just who she is.   
Raye: Okay, as leader-   
Everyone: EXCUSE ME?!?!   
Raye: Pro tem, of course, I decide that we all make camp, AGAIN, and get some sleep. We'll worry about everything tomorrow.   
Li: I AM tired . . .   
Ameoba Boy (snoring): Zxzxzxzzxzxzxxzxz . . .   
Max: Everyone thinks I'm psychotic. Except for my friends deep inside the earth . . .   
Everyone: SHUT UP!!!   
  
{Disclaimer}   
Don't own anything.   
I'm armed, dangerous, and extremely crazy.   
Care to argue with me?   
I thought not.   
  
  
Shawn woke as a muffled scream cut through the air. Another followed.   
Jumping from his warm bed and running down the hall, more screams echoed among the mansion.   
"Shawn!!! Li!!!"   
"That was Sakura!! But what about Madison?!" Shawn thought aloud, running through the halls towards Madison and Sakura's room.   
Bursting into the room, Shawn met with an awful sight.   
Li, with a strange sword unsheathed and held in his hands, was beside Sakura's bed. Sakura's Sealing Wand was clenched tightly in her hands; she was standing on her bed, her eyes wide in fear.   
But neither of them could do a thing, for standing hunched over on Madison's bed was the demon-like Garlin. And even worse, crouched beside him, forced onto her knees, was Madison. She was doing her best not to cry as Garlin's sharp nails, which were circling her neck in a stranglehold, dug deeper and deeper, trickles of blood dripping down to dot the white silk bed covers.   
"Let her go!!" Shawn cried, his eyes darting from Madison's grayish blue to Garlin's soul-less red. Tears slowly tricked down Madison's cheeks.   
"No, Nicolus, you do not tell me what to do," Garlin hissed dangerously, his fingers digging deeper into Madison's neck. Madison couldn't stop a whimper.   
"Garlin, let her go." Shawn said slowly. "She hasn't done anything to you."   
"She's done everything to me!" Garlin whispered out venomously. "She's stolen you from me, again! No matter what I do to either of you, no matter how hard I try to split you apart, she always finds her way back to you! And you always forget about me!!!"   
Madison closed her eyes in the pain, her hands gripping the sheets in an attempt to fight it.   
Sakura moved slightly, pulling a Card out.   
Garlin saw the movement out of the corner of his eye, and shook his skull head slightly. "Uh, uh. I wouldn't do that if I were you." To emphasize his point, he dug his nails just a bit more deeper.   
Shawn struggled to think straight. By the way this was going, Madison would be dead in minutes. The blood drops on the covers had spread to large splashes. "Garlin, I'll do anything, just LET HER GO!"   
Garlin seemed to consider this, loosening his hold on Madison minutely. "Anything?" His horrid voice was sly and cajoling.   
Shawn nodded without hesitation. "Anything. Just let Madison live."   
Garlin grinned, pulling one hand from Madison's neck. Deep gouges bled. He gestured with the blood-stained claws, and a wide, swirling vortex appeared behind Shawn. "Step through it. Come with me back to Frainria, where we belong."   
Shawn paused. "Let go of Madison first."   
Garlin cocked his head. "How do I know you will come then?"   
Shawn gulped. "I give you my word. Just let her go first."   
Garlin grinned. "You always were a sentimental honorable fool, Nicolus." Garlin threw Madison aside contemptulously, Sakura and Li rushing to her aid. "Let us go then, Nicolus."   
Shawn looked over at Madison, who stared up at him through her tears. I don't know if you can hear me, Madison, but I care so much about you. Please don't forget me.   
Madison's eyes widened.   
"Goodbye, Madison." Shawn said sadly, turning slowly.   
"Shawn! No!!" Sakura cried, rushing after him.   
But it was too late. Shawn had disappeared into the vortex, followed closely by a grinning Garlin.   
With a snap, the vortex disappeared, Madison fainting from blood loss at the same moment.   
  
Shawn opened his eyes, groaning as he sat up. He immediately wished he had kept them closed.   
Everything around him was twisted and strange. The trees were hunched over as though their backs were broken. The grass was stunted and browned. But as far as his eyes could see, there was no other life. No birds, nothing. This entire expanse was devoid of life.   
"This is Frainria?" Shawn whispered in horror. "I didn't think there could possibly be such emptiness in a place."   
"How do you like my home sweet home, Nicolus?" Garlin whispered happily as he stood and stretched, tapping the back of Shawn's head with a still-blood-streaked claw. "But now that you're here, we're going to have such fun!"   
  
  
Before you all come after me with flamin' pitchforks, I had to do this! Otherwise, the story wouldn't be interesting! Please, ya gotta understand!   
Christopher: Uh, Raye?   
Raye: What?   
Christopher: Can you hear something?   
Raye: Something? Like what?   
Christopher: Like a car coming?   
Raye (pausing to listen): You're right ... I can hear a car!   
Christopher (sighing): Oh shit. Well, I guess we're all done for....   
Raye: Don't give up just yet! Maybe it's just a passerby. We don't know it's the Border Patrol-   
Voice over loudspeaker: This is the Border Patrol!! Don't move and put your hands up!!   
Psycho: That's strange. They have a very good grasp of English. And no accent either.   
(The Border Patrol jeep comes closer and the others reluctantly put their hands up. Someone jumps out of the jeep, carrying a megaphone.)   
Ms. Sinic: Wait a minute ...   
Max: It just can't be....   
Raye: It is!   
Li & Sakura: It's.... It's....   
Everyone: Lizzie!!   
Lizzie: Hiya!!!   
Raye (screams): AHH!!! RUN FOR IT!! I'D RATHER RISK IT IN THE DESERT!!! *(^O^)*   
Everyone: AHHHHHHHHHH!!!! 


	19. Chapter Nineteen: Theories

Sakura in Paris 2   
Part Nineteen: Theories   
  
Raye (breathing heavily): Run ... Run ..... Must run away..... Far away.....   
Lizzie: Hiya!!   
Raye: AHHHHHHHHH!!!! *(^O^)*   
(Suddenly, a high-pitched, terror-filled shriek rents the air. Everyone skids to a stop.)   
Sakura: Wh-wh-what was that?   
Psycho (eagerly): Sounded like a banshee or a ghost!   
Sakura: Eeek!   
(She promptly jumps into Li's arms.)   
Max: No, it was too high and girlish to be a ghost.   
Ms. Sinic: Huh, must have been Ameoba Boy.   
Raye: Yo, paramecium!! Where are you?   
Ameoba Boy (distantly): I'm hanging off a rocky cliff by my fingernails!!!   
Raye: Oh, okay. Guys, let's commence our panicked running, shall we?   
Ameoba Boy: WHAT ABOUT ME?!?! '*0*'   
Max: What about you?   
Ameoba Boy: HELP ME!!!! '*O*'   
  
{Disclaimer}   
(Raye is dancing about, humming to the tune of "If I Only Had A Brain".)   
Ms. Sinic: Uh, Raye?   
Raye: Hmmm?   
Max: What the hell are you doing now?   
Raye: Interperative dance.   
Ms. Sinic: Really. Well, what the hell are you trying to interperate?   
Raye: I call this, "I Wish I Owned CCS, For Clamp Does".   
(Max looks to Sinic.)   
Ms. Sinic: Right, you get the meds, I get the straightjacket.   
Max: You're so damned psychic, it's not even funny.   
  
  
"Madison, you should be resting," Sakura said in a hopeless voice, trying to push Madison back onto the bed.   
"Sakura, I can't," Madison gasped out painfully. Her throat was wrapped with thick bandages, but the doctor had assured the very worried household that she'd be alright with rest and time to heal. "Shawn needs me."   
"Shawn needs you to get better." Sakura said firmly. "You can't help him otherwise."   
"Sakura, please say you know how to get to him." Madison pleaded, tears filling her eyes. "How to find that place, Frainria."   
Sakura sighed, looking down. "Li and Kero are working on it. They think they have an idea, but . . ."   
Madison's tears trickled down her face. "But they don't think they can help Shawn?"   
Sakura was silent.   
"Sakura, you didn't hear him, just before he left. I did," Madison said with a stifled sob. "He told me he cares about me, and asked me to never forget him. And I can't, Sakura, no matter how hard I try. And frankly, I don't want to. I care about him so much, Sakura. How would you feel if it was Li that this all happened to?"   
Sakura remained silent.   
Madison continued on, gasping for breath through the painfully thick bruises. "I think I love him, Sakura, and I think he loves me, too. Why else would he have done what he did? And Sakura, I miss him so very much. I want him back. I want to hold him and tell him how thankful I am that I know him, that he's in my life.   
"Sakura, he's had such a sad past, in this life and every other, just because of Garlin. No matter how hard he tries to be happy, that demon always destroys it for him. Please, tell me you'll find a way to help him." Madison's tearfilled eyes were pleading and desperate.   
Sakura gulped past the large lump in her throat. "Madison, you're my best friend. I'd do anything for you. I swear, I'll find a way to bring Shawn back. I swear. But you have to promise to stay here, to rest and get better as soon as you can. Can you promise me that?"   
Madison nodded slightly, trying not to move her head more than need be. "I promise, Sakura."   
  
Li and Kero were in Li's room, struggling to think of something, Kero racking his tiny brain for clues from his memories of the long-ago past.   
Kero laughed triumphantly. "Of course! It's so simple!"   
"What?" Li asked eagerly.   
"How they get the filling in these muffins!" Kero said with a grin, chomping into the pastry. Li growled, a vein popping out and twitching.   
"Kero, you idiot! Getting Shawn back is a hell of a lot more important than figuring out the mysteries of the snack-food world!!"   
Kero glared at the equally furious Li. "Of course, but snacks are important, too!"   
Sakura entered just in time to prevent a double homicide, and immediately smacked the two. "Quit quarreling and get back to work! Have you even located Frainria yet? Or the source of magic that powers Garlin?"   
As he rubbed at his bruised head, Kero mumbled something quite rude that sounded like "flibbertygibbet".   
"Excuse me?!?" Sakura demanded in an appalled voice.   
"We haven't found Frainria, yet, but we do know it's on a different plane, or dimension. But I think Kero was hard at work on the second goal, or he was before he had a wonderful revellation about the properties of pastries!" Li said contemptulously.   
"Why you-" Kero began, menacing the glaring Li with a tiny curled fist.   
"Stop!" Sakura said firmly. "Well, Kero? Have you found anything?"   
Kero sighed. "Yes and no. I have a theory, but no real proof."   
"Well, let's hear this theory. I'm sure it'll be interesting," Li said mockingly.   
Kero growled warningly before a look from Sakura halted him. "Do you remember what I told you about Clow Reed having an apprentice?"   
Sakura nodded eagerly. "Yes, why?"   
"I'm not sure why it popped into my mind in the first place, but I'm somewhat glad it did. Well, the apprentice had strange magic, magic Clow Reed had never seen before, but was determined to teach."   
"So?" Li asked. "What does this have to do with anything?"   
Kero glared venomously. "If you'd let me explain, owe Master Li." Li merely glared while the Guardian of the Clow went on. "Shawn has magic, too, but it's a strange type. A type neither of you or myself have ever seen or sensed before."   
"So you think the two are connected somehow?" Sakura asked.   
Kero nodded. "Well, Clow Reed's apprentice was killed centuries ago in a magical accident of his own making. He had tried to make a Clow Card."   
Li snorted. "Smart idea, huh?"   
Kero blatantly ignored him. "Halfway through the process of making the Card, the apprentice's magic escaped from his control. The Card, which was only half-made, escaped. The magic flow that had been creating the Card was reversed on the apprentice, killing him instantly. But then, the excess magic disappeared, too. That's strange in itself. Magic always has goes somewhere, and more often than not, a powerful sorcerer can follow the magic by the faint traces it leaves behind. But this magic was completely gone into thin air. Not even Clow Reed knew where it went."   
"So, what exactly is your theory?" Sakura asked curiously.   
"We already know for a fact that Shawn had at least one past life, that of Nicolus Otion. So it stands to reason that he had others, doesn't it?"   
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Li asked.   
"That Shawn was the apprentice of Clow Reed's all those decades ago?" Sakura asked.   
Kero nodded. "Both have strange, but powerful magic. And if my theory is correct, then the magic flow that disappeared without a trace actually fled into another dimension, perhaps even created a new one."   
"Frainria." Sakura breathed excitedly.   
"And the half-made Clow Card?" Li asked with bated breath.   
Kero nodded. "Is none other than Garlin."   
  
  
So, are you interested in what's gonna happen to Shawn? And Garlin? And not to mention poor Madison who's so upset over her hottie's disappearance? Don't worry! Only a few more chaps of this fic to go, and then all your questions and anxieties will be answered! I guarantee it! (winks)   
Ameoba Boy: MY FINGERS ARE SLIPPING!!! '*0*'   
Psycho: Ah, shut yer trap, ya baby! It's only a few hundred feet to the bottom. It's not that bad.   
Max (grinning wickedly): Yeah, and look at the bright side! The rocks down there don't look too hard....   
Ms. Sinic (grinning just as evilly): Just extremely sharp and pointy.   
Raye: Okay, I suppose we'll help him up....   
Lizzie: Can I help?   
Everyone (even Ameoba Boy): NO!! YOU'RE THE ENEMY!!!   
Lizzie (pouting): So I tried to kill you all a few dozen times? So I'm on the Border Patrol now and I have to throw you in jail? So-   
Everyone: SHUT THE HELL UP!!!!   
(Lizzie goes over to skulk and complain to a friendly cactus while the others strain to pull stick-boy the Ameoba up from the cliff edge.)   
Raye: And .... HEAVE! *(^0^)*   
(Everyone looks up)   
Ms. Sinic: Wow. We're stronger than we look. Just look at how he flies through the air....   
Max: Yeah. Like some immensely grotesque pole-vaulting stick...   
Christopher (sweatdropping): You're all horrible.....   
Raye: I bet fifty bucks that he'll keep flying for another sixty feet!   
Psycho: You're on!   
(Everyone, except for Christopher and Lizze{who's still ranting on and on to the listening cactus about her no-good, horrible, unsupportive, so-called friends}, rush off eagerly with a tape-measure as Ameoba Boy finally hits the ground with a dust-raising *THUMP!*.)   
{P.S.- I know I'm evil! *(^-^)*} 


	20. Chapter Twenty: The Rescue

Sakura in Paris 2   
Part Twenty: The Rescue   
  
{A'sN: I thought I'd just nip in for a moment. I'm sorta sorry about not having Grannie and Jacque and the french gang in this fic that much, but I've been kinda busy focusing in on the main storyline. And in case you're wondering, when Sakura woke them all up and explained how a demon creature called Garlin had attacked Madison and told them to call a doctor, they weren't at all surprised or stunned. They're used to strange crap like that.}   
(Ameoba Boy, bruised, battered, and bandaged, is hobbling along after the others. They're currently lost in the desert, but are expecting Lizzie to pop up out of nowhere at any moment.)   
Raye (kicking angrily at rocks): I can't believe I lost my bet! I was only a few inches off!   
Max: My feet are killing me.....   
Ms. Sinic: My arms are killing me.....   
Ameoba Boy: My whole body's killing me.....   
Psycho: Everyone's whining is killing me......   
Raye (growling): Just shut up, or I WILL be doing some killing!   
(Everyone's traps snap shut with clangs.)   
Christopher (dully): Well, look at the bright side. At least nothing worse can happen-   
(Thunder rolls as a sudden freak rain and hailstorm begins, pouring down on the desolate Gang.)   
Raye: Christopher?   
Christopher: Yeah, Raye?   
Raye: Never ever say that again.   
  
{Disclaimer}   
Don't own, really don't care.   
Hey, I'm tired, cold, and wet.   
What more do you want from me?   
  
  
"Aha!!!" Kero exclaimed.   
"What is it now?" Li asked wearily. "Did you discover the mysteries of pop tarts?"   
"I know how to get to Frainria!!!!"   
Sakura's and Li's heads shot up eagerly.   
"How!?!?"   
Kero sighed. "It's hard to explain, but trust me. I know how to get there. You'll just have to follow me."   
Sakura sighed, standing and smoothing her wrinkled shirt and jeans, scooping up the Sealing Wand. She hadn't even bothered to return it to its necklace form.   
"What about Madison?" Kero asked. "Doesn't she want to come?"   
"Kero, think!" Li growled. "Madison's sleeping and resting, like she should be doing, recovering from her ordeal!"   
"Besides," Sakura said complacantly. "I made her promise to stay here and get better. We're going on our own."   
Kero nodded. "We'll have to join hands."   
Li clearly didn't want to have to touch Kero, but he did so anyway, with plenty of grumbling.   
"Close your eyes." Kero ordered. They complied.   
A strange humming filled the air as the three began to glow brightly. The humming increased in pitch, and suddenly, there was a loud popping sound as a vortex, similiar to the one Garlin had created, appeared behind them.   
Kero said mindly, still humming loudly with his eyes closed.   
Sakura nodded and released Kero's paw and pulled Li with her towards the swirling hole. "Kero says I have to go through first, then you, and he'll come through last."   
Li sighed. "If he says so."   
Sakura took a deep breath and disappeared into the vortex, Li following not even a heartbeat later. Kero, still humming with eyes closed, floated in after both of them, and, as the humming faded into nothingness, the vortex swirled smaller and smaller before disappearing with a slight pop.   
  
Shawn stared straight ahead of him, drawn into himself, his back against a hunkered-over tree, not paying the slightest attention to Garlin, who was currently dancing around the tree singing, "Together, forever, that's how we must be!"   
Garlin suddenly screeched to a stop, his red eyes narrowing slightly. "The meddlers! They're only coming to meet their dooms!"   
Shawn blinked. "What?"   
Garlin sneered, looking over at Shawn. "Your idiotic friends are coming. They think they have a chance to rescue you. But they will be on my turf, this time, and they shall not succeed against the might of Frainria!"   
Shawn closed his eyes again, praying.   
There was a popping noise, and a vortex suddenly appeared. A moment later, Sakura tumbled out, landing roughly on her knees, closely followed by Li, and then Kero, who had his eyes closed and was humming strangely.   
Garlin hissed, crouching defensively and flexing his long blood-stained claws. "Fools! You were idiots to follow us!!"   
Li gritted his teeth as he stood, pulling his sword from its sheath across his back. "So you think, demon."   
Sakura nodded, gripping her Sealing Wand tightly. "You have no right to ruin Shawn and Madison's lives!"   
Garlin chuckled dryly. "Ruin Nicolus's life? Of course not! He belongs with me! We are the best of friends until the very end; how can he not be happy with me?"   
"Maybe because you stole me from my other friends for your own selfish reasons, Garlin," Shawn said softly as he stood. "Maybe because you stole me from the one person I truly care about, you truly cares about me."   
Garlin seemed appalled by these statements. "No, Nicolus! I am your only true friend, I am the only one the truly cares about you! No one else does!"   
Shawn shook his head slowly. "Garlin, if you truly cared about me, you wouldn't bring me to this awful, barren place. You wouldn't make me feel so bad."   
Garlin cocked his head. "You feel bad, Nicolus? But that is absurd!"   
Shawn shook his head again. "I do feel bad, Garlin. Do you have a heart? Do you know what a broken one feels like?"   
Garlin was confused. "What is a heart?"   
Shawn sighed, turning to Sakura and Li. "Is Madison okay? She is, isn't she?"   
Sakura nodded with a faint smile. "She's doing just fine, Shawn. But she misses you terribly."   
Shawn sighed. "I miss her so bad, too. But please, leave now."   
Sakura and Li were surprised by this. "But why? We're here to rescue you!"   
"Garlin is much more powerful here than he is on Earth. He can hurt the both of you so much, and I don't want anyone to suffer because of me."   
Li shook his head softly, grinning. "Well, we're here now, and we're not leaving unless you're coming with us, Shawn. True friends stick by each other."   
Shawn smiled. "I wish I could do something to help you, something to beat Garlin without anyone getting hurt, but I don't have any magic like you do. I'm only a bother and in the way."   
Sakura shook her head. "You're not a bother, Shawn. Or in the way. You're one of us. And I swore to Madison I bring you back. I intend to do just that."   
Garlin growled softly, menacingly, hopping forward a pace. "Leave us now, foolish intruders. You do not belong here!"   
Sakura raised her Sealing Wand. "For once, I agree with you Garlin. But we are not leaving without Shawn."   
Garlin growled and lunged at Sakura.   
"Windy Card!" Sakura cried.   
Garlin was thrown back against a tree by Windy, but managed to escape her clutches easily. "Is that the best you can do, weakling?!?" Garlin hissed, lunging again.   
Li's sword came slicing down, slashing Garlin across a dusky black side. Garlin squealed in pain, jumping back reflexively.   
"Kero, get the vortex open again." Sakura whispered out of the corner of her mouth. "Li, keep it busy while I grab Shawn."   
Li nodded and adopted a fighting stance.   
But Garlin seemed to have heard the whispered orders, for when he lunged a third time, it was at neither Li, nor Sakura, but Kero.   
Kero struggled against the long claws that closed in around him. "Let me go!"   
Sakura gasped as Garlin squeezed Kero ruthlessly. "You will leave now, or I shall kill the flying mouse creature!"   
Shawn watched helplessly. I wish there's something I could do!!!   
There was an intense, bright flash of light, blinding everyone before it faded away. When Shawn uncovered his eyes again, he gaped silently in stunned shock.   
Standing between Garlin, Sakura, and Li, were three people, two everyone recognized, one no one but Garlin did.   
Madison, her eyes wide in surprise, her hands around her bandaged neck, sat on her knees. Standing beside her was a young man, dressed in old fashioned clothes and nearly see-through. It was none other than the deceased Nicolus Otion.   
But standing beside the ghost-like figure was another young man, resembling Nicolus so closely they must have been related, but dressed in ancient-looking robes and nearly as transparent as Nicolus.   
Garlin's eyes widened in shock. He was so surprised, he released Kero, who quicky hovered back over to Sakura and Li, who's eyes looked about ready to pop out of their sockets.   
"Antien!" Garlin whispered fearfully. "But it cannot be!!"   
The robe-dressed young man nodded slowly, his green eyes cold and steely.   
Kero boggled at the ghost-like man, spluttering. "He-he-he's . . . Clow Reed's apprentice!!!"   
  
  
Ooooh! Getting so interesting!!! What the heck's gonna happen next? Well, let's just say, "Expect the Unexpected"....   
Max: Ouch! I just fell on another cactus!   
Ms. Sinic: I just about stepped on a rattlesnake, guys. Can we please stop?   
Raye (sighing): Oh well. If we get caught by the Border Patrol now, I'm really too tired to give a damn.   
Christopher & Psycho: Same here.....   
Li: Guys?   
Everyone: Huh?   
Li: I think we've been walking in circles....   
Ameoba Boy: Why is that?   
Sakura (pointing): Because the Border Fence is right over there.....   
Christopher (sighing): And look who's coming to greet us ....   
Lizzie over the megaphone: PUT UP YOUR HANDS NOW, AND DON'T TRY TO ESCAPE! YOU'LL JUST MAKE IT HARDER ON YOURSELVES!!!   
Raye: Oh shit.   
Christopher: I know. We're as good as in prison....   
Raye: No, I meant there's nothing nearby sharp enough to kill myself with.   
Ms. Sinic: Don't you dare start talking like that, Raye!   
Max: Yeah, that's me and Psycho's job to be suicidally depressed.   
(Everyone sweatdrops.)   
Ameoba Boy (fingering a loose tooth): Well, look at the bright side. At least we'll be inside out of the elements.   
Raye: And trapped with Lizzie? What's the bright side? 


	21. Chapter Twenty-One: Shawn's Heartbreak

Sakura in Paris 2   
Part Twenty-One: Shawn's Heartbreak   
  
Raye (sighing): Oh well. We're in the back of the Border Patrol truck now, and hope looks lost.   
Everyone (sighing as well): Yeah.   
Ameoba Boy (sniffing): I love ya guys-   
(He gulps as he sees the venomous glares he's getting.)   
Ameoba Boy: Not in that way, of course.....   
Max: Oh well. It was fun knowing y'all. (looks over at Ameoba Boy) Well, at least some of you....   
Psycho (nodding depressedly): At least I have the comfort of knowing I'll come back to haunt Lizzie for the rest of her living days.   
(Lizzie gulps nervously in the front seat.)   
Raye: Can I come back and help ya, Chris? We'd make a great team!   
Psycho (nodding eagerly): Great idea! That way, we'll never be apart! Hey Max, Ms. Sinic, Christopher, ya want to join us?   
Max: Why not? Sounds good to me.   
Ms. Sinic: Yeah, sounds like fun!   
Christopher (sweatdropping): Guys, we're not sentenced to die just yet-   
Ameoba Boy: What about me? Don't any of you want me to come back, too?   
(Everyone shakes their heads.)   
Raye: Nope.   
Max: Natta.   
Ms. Sinic: Not really.   
Psycho: I don't even like you, Ameoba.   
(Ameoba Boy bursts into tears, and Christopher, Li, and Sakura glare at the others as they comfort him, muttering about horrible, non-supportive, cruel friends. Lizzie turns in her seat to look at the others.)   
Lizzie: Don't come back and haunt me!   
Psycho: What? Why not? Do you want to steal from us our final piece of happiness, owe b*tchy one?   
Lizzie (gulping): I don't want ghosts following me around!   
Raye (grinning evilly): I suppose that you'll have to let us go then. Otherwise, we'll be sure to come back and make your life a living hell.   
(Lizzie gulps.)   
  
{Disclaimer}   
(Pulls out a gun.)   
I don't own CCS, and you better not argue.   
Else-   
(Cocks gun loudly.)   
I'll make today your last!   
(Laughs maniacally.)   
  
  
Madison looked around in shock. "Wh-what am I doing here? Where are we?" Looking up, Madison suddenly saw Nicolus Otion and the apprentice Antien. Gasping in surprise, the girl scrambled backwards. "Gh-gh-ghosts!!"   
"Antien! But, how can it be?!" Garlin sputtered in shock. "You're dead!!"   
The crimson-robe clad ghost nodded solemnly. "That I am, Garlin. For if I wasn't, young Shawn would have never come into existence. For the moment, I think it was good that I died when I did."   
"But, but, but what are you doing here?!?" Garlin asked, taking a large step backwards.   
Antien sighed. "I shouldn't be here, Garlin. But I am. Because of you."   
"Me?" Garlin asked incredulously.   
Antien nodded. "You have endangered the lives of innocents, Garlin, not to mention mine."   
"Yours?" Garlin was clearly confused. "But you're dead!"   
"In a way." Antien agreed confusingly. "But I live on in Shawn."   
Shawn was struggling to take all of this in. It wasn't every day that someone got to meet their reincarnated predacessors.   
Sakura knelt speechlessly as Madison crawled over. "Sakura, what's the hell's going on?!?!"   
Sakura just shook her head wordlessly, stunned silent.   
"Garlin, you must stop this," Nicolus's ghost suddenly spoke up. "No good can come of this."   
Garlin shook his head as if to clear it. "No, no! You're trying to confuse me, to trick me!! Nicolus belongs here with me!!"   
Nicolus's ghost shook his head firmly. "No, Garlin! I never belonged here with you! This place has no life to it, it's no place for a person to live!"   
Antien sighed sadly, green eyes sorrowful. "I made a grave mistake the day I tried to make you, Garlin."   
Garlin stared at the shimmering ghost in disbelief. "You cannot mean that, Antien!"   
Antien sighed again. "But I do, Garlin. I wanted to create you to do good, as all of my Master Clow's other Cards could. You were to be a Card of Friendship, to help the sad and lonely around you." Antien paused sadly. "I was so sad and lonely myself, I so wished I could have a friend in you. Apprentices live hard, lonely lives. But you got out of hand, Garlin. You allowed yourself to be warped by the hatred and fear around you, and I lost control of you. And when you escaped. . ." Antien shivered in remembered pain. "It hurt so much, and the last thought I ever had as Antien was "Dear God, what have I unleashed?"."   
Garlin was silent in horrified shock. "No! I am a good creature! There's nothing wrong with me!! It's the rest of the world that's twisted, not me!!!"   
A large wave of magic suddenly blasted everyone. The ghosts of Nicolus and Antien shivered fitfully, flicking in and out of sight. Madison whimpered and clutched her bandaged neck. Small dots of red blood appeared on the white linen.   
Shawn struggled to protect his face with his raised arms as Kero growled, his tiny wings beating furiously. Li's arms circled Sakura's waist protectively.   
The magic finally died away, Garlin sobbing quietly in a tiny, dejected clump. "It's not true! I'm a good creature! I've never done anything wrong! I've merely punished those that stole from me!!"   
The ghost of Nicolus seemed to quiver wrathfully. "Is that why you killed Kanthel!?!? Because you thought she had stolen me from you?!?!"   
Garlin looked up from his sorrow. "She did!! You never wanted to be with me once you met her!" Garlin pointed accusingly at the gasping-for-air Madison.   
"Are you alright?" Shawn called in a concerned way.   
Madison coughed feebly, then managed to nod. "I'll be okay," she gasped out croakily, massaging her once-again bleeding neck.   
"Garlin, I admit that I started to find less and less time to be with you, but I still wanted to be friends. We were, until you began hurting anybody who got close to me. And then, when I met Kanthel and gave her the magic-locket to Shield her from you, you became so enraged and furious that you went on a rampage! Do you not remember?"   
A look of realization suddenly dawned over Garlin's strange face. "Yes. . ."   
Nicolus nodded with grim satisfaction. "You went on a rampage, killed or hurt anyone you found. Garlin, you killed so many, there was nothing else I could do but send you back here. Afterwards, I so regretted finding Frainria again. And then, you took her from me," Silvery tears glistened in Nicolus's eyes. "You destroyed the one person that meant more than life itself to me. You killed my dear wife, Kanthel."   
Garlin sobbed silently.   
"And you remember now, don't you? You must have made yourself forget anything bad that you did in the past," Nicolus said accusingly. "You destroyed my wife, and afterwards, I lost interest in everything, and died a month later, of a broken heart. Do you want that to happen again, Garlin?!? Because it will if you let this continue, this horrible, pointless cycle. Let Shawn and Madison free, or you'll be trapped in this torment till the end of time!"   
Garlin abruptly stopped his heart-wrenching sobbing, looking at the ground for a long steadying moment, the tears drying from his eyes. "No," the demon-creature whispered. "You're all lying. You're doing this for her," Garlin glared up at Madison. "You're doing all this to save her! You care nothing about me, about my hapiness and sorrow! You're torturing me, tricking me into letting her escape!"   
And before anyone could move or react, Garlin had sprung, landing roughly beside Madison.   
A scream of pain filled the air as Garlin's claws pierced Madison's heart.   
"NO!!!!!!" Shawn screamed, forgetting everything as his heart shattered.   
  
  
AHHHH!!!!! HELP!!!!! I'M BEING CHASED BY ANGRY READERS WITH FLAMING PITCHFORKS!!!! DON'T KILL ME!!! THE FIC ISN'T OVER YET!!! HELP!!!!!!!   
(Lizzie stops the truck with a suffering sigh.)   
Lizzie: I hope you all know that I'm going to be in major trouble if anyone finds out I did this.   
Raye: Oh, don't worry. We'll be sure to tell everyone we can.   
Lizzie (looking relieved): Oh, that's good. (Realization dawns on her.) Hey! Wait a minute!   
Ms. Sinic: Oooh, I'm sorry! Your time's up!! Thanks for playing. Stop in again next time.   
(The others vamoose, leaving Lizzie staring after them dejectedly. But, moments later, Lizzie isn't so lonely. A giant beam of green light falls on the Border Patroller as an alien hovercraft hovers over her.)   
Lizzie: AHHHHHH!!!!! ALIENS!!!   
1st Alien: LET US BRING THE EARTH CREATURE TO THE SUPREME COUNCIL!   
2nd Alien: I COMPLETELY AGREE, VORPLAV!! THE COUNCIL SHALL BE PLEASED WITH SUCH A FINE SPECIMEN!!   
Lizzie: AHHHHHHHHHH!! HELP!!!   
(The others are conviently oblivious to her pleas for assisstance.)   
Raye: Dum de dum dum dum. Do you hear anything, Max?   
Max: Nope, I believe not, Ange.   
Lizzie (distantly as she's carted off): I'LL GET YOU GUYS IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!!!   
Christopher (sighing and sweatdropping): Which, with you guys, may very well be the case.... 


	22. Chapter Twenty-Two: Impossible Miracles ...

Sakura in Paris 2   
Part Twenty-Two: Impossible Miracles of the Heart   
  
Raye (sighing): I believe we're back to the Mexican Border.   
(Everyone sighs.)   
Ameoba Boy: Guys?   
Everyone: What?   
Ameoba Boy: I don't feel so good . . .   
Max: Well, you HAVE practically broken every bone possible, and you've probably got some internal bleedings and infections starting.   
Ms. Sinic: Uh, that was something I really didn't need to know. Y'know, I was planning on eating again in the next three days.   
Ameoba Boy (slurring): I amh starting to see thingssss ...(Sways unsteadily on his feet.)Flickerpiss testgum.   
Raye (giving him a strange look): You've left the lenscap of your brain on again, haven't you?   
(Ameoba Boy doesn't answer. He passes out and falls face first in the dust, instead.)   
Raye (sighing): We're staying here until I decide what we're gonna do.   
(Everyone sighs.)   
Max: I really don't give a bloody damn what happens anymore.   
Ms. Sinic: Yeah, why the hell does it matter?   
(Everyone sighs disspiritedly.)   
  
  
{Disclaimer}   
I'm thinkin' there's only gonna be another couple of these, hopefully.   
Don't own Sakura, Li, Madison, Tori, Madison's mom, Sakura's dad, or Kero.   
Do own the french family of Sakura, Shawn, all of his past lives, Garlin, and anyone else mentioned in this fic that was never mentioned in the series. (except for Max, 'cause she would KILL me if I even implied that I owned her.)   
Max: Damn Straight! [o-o]   
I think that takes care of everything, right?   
  
  
  
Shawn crumpled without another word, stunned frozen in shock. Sakura fainted clean away, falling into the horrified Li's arms. Even the ghosts of Antien and Nicolus looked surprised and horrified.   
Garlin grinned down at the dying girl still pierced by his long, wicked claws. Madison coughed feebly, her hands clenched around Garlin's. Tears glistened in her eyes, trickling down her pale cheeks in gleaming streams.   
Garlin sneered contemptulously at the pain-wracked girl. "You cry, girlie. Do you fear death so?"   
Madison managed to shake her head weakly, her life and energy draining away from her slowly. "I don't cry because I fear death. I don't cry because of the pain."   
Garlin's face neared Madison's. "Then why do you cry, girlie?"   
Madison coughed again, struggling to breathe. "I cry because I feel sorry for you, Garlin. I pity you."   
Garlin glared at the girl in surprise. "Why would you pity me?!? You're the one dying!!"   
"You're so sad and lonely, you have no friends, no one who cares for you." Madison whispered out. "I have so many friends who love me, and Shawn."   
"I have Shawn." Garlin said stolidly. "And you shall die."   
Madison smiled regretfully. "I wish I could be your . . . friend, Garlin. But you're   
right . . . I'm dying."   
Garlin was surprised by Madison's sad honesty and wish. "I don't understand."   
"Of course you don't, Garlin," An unfamiliar female voice said behind the demon creature. "You have no real heart."   
Garlin's head swiveled back. Standing there was a shimmering, pale gossamer young woman, dressed in a long blue, old-fashioned dress with her long black hair trailing behind her in a braided plait.   
"Kanthel!" Garlin exclaimed in surprise.   
Kanthel's ghost sighed sadly, looking down at the small, dying figure of Madison. "My dear Madison. So young and already at Death's Door. It must be fate for me to die young." Kanthel looked back into Garlin's eyes. "Poor, young, naive Antien created you incorrectly, Garlin. He created first your body, your powers and Immortality. He should have first created your heart, your soul. That is why all of this has come to pass. Because you have no heart, Garlin, and you are unable to feel pity, remorse, or love because of it."   
Garlin was confused. "I don't know what you're talking about!"   
Kanthel smiled remorsefully, floating over to Garlin, kneeling slightly. The two, demon and ghost, were now face to face. "A heart is here, Garlin," Kanthel lay an soft, unsolid hand on the demon's gaunt chest. "But no heart beats in your chest."   
Garlin was still confused, and Madison was beginning to slip into the unconsciousness of death. Kanthel sighed. "I will show you a heart's love, Garlin, in the hope that nothing like this will ever happen again."   
Garlin was suddenly wrapped in a warm, light coccoon of colors and feelings. Happiness and love danced around him, opening his eyes to wonders he had never felt before.   
With a flash, the coccoon was gone, but Garlin could still feel them all around him, within him. "What's happened to me?"   
Kanthel smiled, albeit sadly. "I've given you a heart, Garlin, so you will never again be deluded by evil and hate."   
Garlin was suddenly awash with remorse and guilt. He released his hold on Madison, letting the girl drop limply to the ground. "What have I done?!?!" he wailed in sorrow.   
Madison blinked barely, a faint smile touching her lips. "I'm happy for you, Garlin. You can love now," she whispered out barely audible.   
Shawn had regained the use of his numbed limbs, hurrying over to Madison's side. Kneeling beside her, Shawn sobbed silently as he cradled her head in his lap.   
"Madison, this is all my fault!! It's all because of me!! If only I'd stayed away from you, never come for the job at the mansion! You'd still be safe!!"   
Madison's eyes closed as Shawn's tears dripped down to dot her cheeks.   
Garlin looked about desperately. "I have to stop this!!! I can't let this happen!!!!"   
An absolute silence fell; even the air and time seemed to freeze. The three ghosts of Nicolus, Antien, and Kanthel began to glow eerily, blindingly bright. A piercing cry from Garlin sliced the time-frozen atmosphere as he threw his hands up.   
Time resumed its normal flow, but the light emitted by the three ghosts increased. As the echo from Garlin's cry faded, the ghost-made light began to mold into a large, glowing ball of energy.   
Garlin began to lower his hands, the ball hovering away from the ghosts and floating above his head. Garlin blinked, large tears dripping from his eyes.   
"Everyone was right about me. I was no good, and did horrible things to people who didn't deserve the pain and terror I inflicted upon them. But I repent my sins now, and try to make up for the past by restoring life unfairly taken."   
Sakura blinked, shading her eyes, as the ball's light increased in intenseness. Shawn stared in numbed surprise as the ball disappeared into Madison's limp, still body. As the after-glow faded, Madison's eyes suddenly opened.   
"Shawn?" Madison asked incredulously. "But, I was dead!"   
"Madison!!!" Shawn cried in relief, gathering her to him, hugging her so tightly he nearly squeezed the breath from her. "I was so afraid I'd lost you again!!"   
Garlin sat with slumped, shaking shoulders, sobbing gently. Kanthel looked to Nicolus, smiling to her husband. "He's repaired all ill-laid."   
Antien nodded in satisfied agreement. "It only took a hundred or so years for him to repair the mistake I made so long ago."   
Nicolus sighed. "But, Antien, are you not happy for us? We've found our love again, and this time, I doubt we'll ever let her go again."   
Kanthel walked to Nicolus, embracing her husband fondly. With a brief flash, the two faded into nothingness. Antien sighed, then looked over to Madison and Shawn, who were laughing and crying simultaneously. A rare smile flashed across the weary-lined features. "Yes, Nicolus, I am very happy for us. My blunder has been repented. We'll be able to rest easily now, with Shawn and Madison finally together."   
Turning and walking away slowly, the ghost of the long-ago Apprentice to Clow Reed faded into nothingness.   
  
Sakura stood shakily, still not quite recovered from the many surprises and shocks of the day. She sighed softly as the Sealing Wand returned to its necklace form. "Thank God everything's okay."   
Garlin, still sobbing softly, stood and began to stumble off.   
Aided by Shawn, Madison stood, trembling slightly. "Garlin! Wait!"   
Garlin turned slightly, still crying dejectedly. "What is it?"   
"Don't go." Madison said softly.   
Garlin sniffed, dashing the tears from his eyes. "Why not?"   
Madison smiled hesitantly. "I wasn't lying when I said I wanted to be your friend."   
Garlin stared at her incredulously. "But, but, but, I tried to kill you!"   
Madison giggled weakly. "Actually, you did. But, push that aside for now. I really do want to be your friend."   
Shawn nodded in agreement. "And I still want to be your friend, Garlin, if you'll let me."   
Garlin smiled shyly, for once looking more friendly than frightening. "Thank you, both." He sighed as he walked back to them. "But I don't belong in your dimension, and you don't belong in mine."   
"But, what will you do now?" Li asked softly, sheathing his sword with a soft click.   
Garlin smiled. "I'll do what my creator made me to do. I'll be friend to the lonely, comfort them and be their confidante until I have to return to Frainria, until they have other friends. Yes, I think Antien would like that. And I'll make Frainria beautiful, bring life and happiness to it, make it flourish. Do you think that is a good idea?"   
Sakura smiled. "It's a wonderful plan for your life, Garlin. And we'll still be your friends, for all time. If you ever need us, don't hesitate to call."   
Garlin smiled, snapping his fingers. A vortex appeared behind them. "I'll never be able to thank you all for all you've done. Especially you, Madison, Kanthel." Garlin said gently. "I owe everything to you. And I hope you can forgive me for everything I've done."   
Madison smiled. "Don't worry. We forgive you."   
"And thank you, Shawn, Nicolus, Antien. You were my creator, my friend, my everything. Thank you for everything, and I'm ever so sorry."   
Shawn smiled softly. "No problem, Garlin. I don't think Antien or Nicolus is mad with you anymore. And I know I'm not."   
Garlin nodded gratefully, gesturing to the vortex. "Go now, then. And thank you again."   
Sakura and Li went through first, Kero following close behind. Madison and Shawn paused at the entranceway, waving back to the smiling Garlin.   
Shawn looked into Madison's grey-blue eyes. "I was so afraid that I'd lost you."   
Madison smiled softly. "You did. But I'll always find my way back to you, Shawn."   
As they entered the vortex hand-in-hand, Madison grinned. "If you ever want to know what heaven looks like, don't hesitate to ask."   
  
  
Okay, how did you like that? Better than you expected, wasn't it? Am I good? I'm good.   
Christopher: Raye?   
Raye: Huh?   
Christopher: Raye?   
Raye: Huh?   
Christopher: RAYE?!?!?   
Raye: HUH?!?!?   
Christopher: Isn't that your Mom's car?   
Raye (peering near-sightedly into the distance): (gasp) OhmiGod! You're right! And there's Ms. Sinic's Dad's truck, and Max's Dad's car, and Ameoba Boy's Dad's van!!   
(Everyone jumps up and down, calling excitedly and waving to their loved ones.)   
Raye (breathless as she runs up to her mom): HOW DID YOU FIND US?!?! (Hugs Mom rib-crackingly.)   
Mom: YOU'RE IN THE PAPERS!!!!   
(Throws old paper into Raye's face.)   
Raye: uh, oh. . . .   
Everyone: What is it?   
Raye: Take a look at this.   
Newspaper reads:   
ROBBERY OF MAC AND CHEESE TRUCK OFFICIAL!! LOCAL TEENAGERS   
ARE ACCUSED!!   
On the morning of May 27, 2001, the Mac and Cheese delivery truck en route to the local Krogers was reported missing. A full-scale search was mounted, resulting in the recovery of the truck's driver, Dende Parunga, who was found unconscious on the curb at 123 Alphabet Lanes. When he regained consciousness, Parunga claimed that he had been ambushed by a teenaged girl, later identified as Raye Firearrows, and knocked unconscious with a broomstick. Another teenage girl, Ms. Heaven Sinic, was also seen at the hyjacking. A local and state-wide search is being mounted for the missing, hyjacker teens.   
Raye: We're in deep shit, aren't we?   
Mom: You COULD say that, young lady! Explain yourself!! 


	23. Chapter Twenty-Three: A Happy Ending?

Sakura in Paris 2   
Part Twenty-Three: A Happy Ending   
  
Raye: . . . and then we were dropped off by Lizzie, who's on the Border Patrol now. And that's about it.   
(Raye's been explaining for the past four hours, and all the parents are falling asleep.)   
Mom: And you expect us to believe all of this?   
(Raye and the others nod devoutely.)   
Mom (SIGH): Well, I suppose we should all expect this sort of crap by now, with children like ours.   
(Other parents nod in agreement.)   
Mom: So, we'll explain to the authorities that you weren't entirely in control of your actions since none of you have been taking your meds lately, and get this all cleared up.   
Raye (hugging Mom): Mom, you're the greatest!!   
(The Gang nods furiously.)   
Mom: So, hurry up and finish the fic so we can go home.   
Raye (sighing): Okay.   
  
  
{Disclaimer}   
SNIFF! This is the last one for this fic, peoples! SNIFF!   
Well, thanx boos, for staying along this entire time.   
I hope you enjoyed my nonsensical ramblings,   
and the fic of course, too.   
Don't own the CCS Gang, do own my Gang (except, of course, Max.)   
Max: Damn Straight!   
Raye: Yes Max, you can go back to your cage now. Good Girl. Now, as I was saying:   
and the others mentioned in the fic.   
SNIFF SNIFF! Well, goodbye!   
(Runs off sobbing her itty-bitty heart out.)   
  
  
Madison snapped the last clip onto her suitcase, sighed, and turned to face Shawn.   
"You're sure your Mom doesn't mind me coming to stay with you until I find my own place?" Shawn asked nervously.   
Madison grinned and nodded. "Of course not! I explained everything to her last night, and she's wild about the idea of meeting you."   
Shawn gulped. "I sure hope she stays wild about me. I don't want anything to go wrong."   
Madison smiled reassuringly. "Everything'll be just fine. I mean, we've been through worst things than a sometimes-witchy mother."   
Shawn grinned, pulling Madison closer. "If she's anything like her daughter, I think I'll be okay."   
Madison giggled as she wrapped her arms around Shawn's neck, pulling him into a very long, drawn out kiss. {A'sN: HOORAY!!}   
When they finally parted, Madison smiled up at Shawn. "I think I love you, owe one with three pasts."   
Shawn grinned. "I think you may be right, owe one with two pasts. I think I love you, too."   
"Then I think we're good company for each other." Madison smiled, pulling Shawn into another kiss.   
  
Sakura sat on Li's bed as he finished his packing. "The plane leaves tonight. We'll be back home tomorrow."   
Li sighed and shut his suitcase. "I know. You don't have to remind me."   
Sakura smiled. "At least everything's worked out okay."   
Li nodded as he sat beside Sakura. "This summer sure was a hectic one. I hope the next won't be so chaotic."   
Sakura nodded. "We should think of something to do next summer, Li. Something new and different."   
Li grinned and pulled Sakura closer. "Something new and different, huh?"   
Sakura giggled as Li hugged her. "Yeah!"   
Li grinned as he pulled her into a kiss. "I think we can arrange something." {A'sN: Awww.....}   
  
Grannie Marie was nearly crying when she hugged them each before they boarded their plane. "Don't forget us, and I expect letters every week from every single one of you!"   
They all grinned and assured her they would write as soon as they arrived home.   
Jacque nudged her slightly. "Aren't you going to tell them?"   
"Tell us?" Sakura asked curiously.   
Grannie Marie grinned as she linked arms with Jacque. "Jacque proposed last night."   
Silence fell, then immediately stood as a hail of questions flooded over the startled elderly couple.   
"Did you say yes??!"   
"That's wonderful, Grannie!!"   
"Great!!"   
"I'm happy for you!!"   
Grannie Marie blinked, then coughed slightly. "Yes, well, I accepted of course."   
The two were suddenly engulfed in congratulating teenagers who wanted to hug them both again.   
"Yippe!" Sakura squealed happily. "I've got a Grandpa Jacque now!!"   
Ranea stepped forward and handed them each a note. "A little last letter for you all. It 'as everything in it I couldn't say aloud." Ranea grinned, then stepped back to stand with Jean.   
"Last call for Flight 17, nonstop to Tokyo." A voice suddenly blared on the intercom.   
Goodbyes flew back and forth as the four teenagers and Kero waded through the crowds towards their gate.   
"Don't forget us!!"   
"Write as soon as you can!!"   
"Love you all!"   
  
The flight home was uneventful and peaceful; it was the arrival home that was chaotic.   
"Daddy!" Sakura screamed, rushing to her father and throwing all of her bags away in her haste as she hugged him.   
"Hello again, Li!" Sakura's dad said, trying to shake Li's arm off. "So glad you're both back safe and okay!"   
"Madison!" Madison's mom called, rushing to her daughter. "I heard about the attack! I'm so glad you're okay!" {A'sN: Madison's neck is still wrapped in bandages, so Grannie Marie called Madison's mom and told her Madison had been attacked by a strange creature.}   
"And this must be Shawn?" Madison's mom asked, spotting the nervous boy.   
Madison nodded with a grin. "It sure is, Mother."   
Without another word, Madison's mom swept Shawn into a rib-cracking hug. "I'm so glad to meet you, Shawn!! You're welcomed to stay with us as long as you need!"   
Shawn blushed and stammered out his thanks as Madison struggled to hide her giggles at his overwhelmed expression.   
While Tori, Li, Shawn, and Sakura's dad carried the bags to the awaiting taxis, Sakura pulled out her note from Ranea.   
"Oh! I forgot all about this!" Sakura exclaimed, opening it quickly.   
The note read:   
  
Dear Sakura,   
I'm glad you came again this summer, and I enjoyed being with you and the others, despite the few complications and interruptions we had. I hope we can see each other again soon, and you'll be in my thoughts and prayers till then.   
But, I have one favor to ask you. I know a young orphan girl in Mexico, who wishes to have a pen pal her age. I hope you do not mind, but I suggested you.   
Enclosed is her address, name, and some information you might need to know. If you don't want a pen pal, just send me a letter saying so. But I hope you can get to know her; she's a sad girl who needs some friends, and I know from experience that you're one of the best.   
  
Love and thank you,   
Your Ranae.   
  
"Wow! A pen pal!" Sakura breathed excitedly. She eagerly scanned the enclosed sheet. "Her name's Rosa. Gosh, I'm going to write to her as soon as I get home!"   
Inside her dark bookbag, Kero groaned slightly. "I'll be spending some personal time in the bathroom as soon as we get home. . . Pop tarts and planes just don't mix. . ."   
  
  
Well, that's it! How was it? Personal opinions now, no lying! Hey, I can see those crossed fingers! I'm not blind! Well, do you think I should have another sequel? I was thinking along the lines of Sakura in Mexico. Whadda ya think? Should I?   
Mom (on phone): Yes, thank you officers. Yes, thank you for your help.   
(Hangs up and turns to the others, all expectingly staring at her{We're all back at my place now.}.)   
Mom: Well, your names are cleared.   
the Gang: HIP HIP, HOORAY! HIP HIP, HOORAY! HIP HIP, HOORAY!!   
(Mom waits for silence.)   
Mom: But we're still pretty mad at you all.   
Raye (cajoling): Mom, you know us. We can't help but get in these quirky scrapes.   
Mom (sighing): Okay, none of you'll get punished this time, but next time . . .   
(Others nod eagerly in agreement.)   
Raye: Uh, Mom?   
Mom (wearily): What now?   
Raye: I was thinking . . . Could we take a vacation to Mexico?   
(The parents all groan as the Gang begin begging all at once . . .)   
Raye narrating: And now, our curtain closes over the happy scene, the children once more in control of the parents. Join us next time, won't you? This is Raye Firearrows of Ms. Raye Sinic, signing off. Goodnight! And God Bless!! *(^-^)*   
  
  
Acknowledgements and Apologies   
Once again, we come to the closing of another fic by Yours Truly. *SIGH* Oh, well. Well, let's get this thing started, shall we?   
Thank you's go out to my great partner, Ms. Heaven Sinic, who is a never-ending supply of inspiration and support. And to my best bud, Max Nefertiri/Cale, I hope your Canada vacation went well, thanx for being my bud and supporter. Half this funny crap comes from you.   
Sorry's go out to Lizzie, who I made the butt of jokes yet again, and I also apologize to Ameoba Boy, a constant amount of suffering and laughter, and the B.O.S., Mad Trad, Michelle, and Kyle Cotham.   
And I hope that everyone out there that reads this knows that we're not all crazy {just a little}, and only slightly suicidal. This was all written in good fun and laughs.   
I'd also like to say that I don't know Sakura's Dad's name, or Madison's Mom's name. REVIEW and tell me, so I can use their names in my next fics!   
Last but not least, I want to know if any of you out there think I should write another Sakura + Li, Madison + Shawn, fic. The next one would be Sakura in Mexico, or SIM if you will, and'll have a somewhat different plot line. But I'll only write it if I get enough people out there that think I should. So if you like the other fics, send them REVIEWS in!!   
THANX again!!   
  
  
Hugs and Handshakes,   
Raye Firearrows of Ms. Raye Sinic   
  
********************************************************   
*This fic was dedicated to the memories of those innocents   
that perished in the attack on September 11th, 2001.*   
*{-_-}*   
******************************************************* 


End file.
